





•I o 




XO^^. 




.HO, 



[n the 




Land of Plowers 



By WALTER N. PIKE. 



Know ye the land of the Cedar and Vine, 
Whose scented flowers blossom and beams enshrine ; 
Where the light wings of Zephyr, oppressed with perfume, 
Wax faint o'er the gardens of beautiful bloom? " 



OONTENTS. 



Ho FOR- THF fNNY SOUTH, ....... 3 

The Gardens and Flowers of Jacksonville, . . 3 

The Palms or Palmettoes of Florida, .... 7 

A Trip up the St. John's River, ...... 11 

Wonderful Plant Growths in Florida, .... 15 

Silver Spring and its Romantic Legend, . . .19 

On the Wondrous Ocklawaha, ...... 23 

Way Down on the Indian River, . .27 

Oranges and Other Citrus Fruits, ..... 31 

St. Augustine and the Gardens of the Ponce de Leon, 35 

The Garden and Flowers of the Tampa Bay Hotel, . 39 

Where May and December are Wed, . . .43 

Living and Locating in Florida, ..... 47 

Miscellanies, . . . . . . 51-64 




^^1^.,^^.^ 



r 



"^M^.ofPyJjL^ 



IN THE 

LAND ^FLOWERS 

A SERIES OF REVISED SKETCHES ^ 
WHICH FIRST APPEARED IN 
"THE MAYFLOWER." 



WALTER N. PIKE 

11 



PUBLISHED BY 



PIKE & ELLSWORTEfr'^^^^f . ^, . 

JESSAMINE, FLA. 



PRICE lO CENTS. 



Copyright, 1895, by Walter N. Pike. 



/^ 






Ho for the Sunny South I 

Away from stern Wlnter^s dommions, 

His cold, chilling mantle of snow; 
The flowers struck dead by his visage. 

His winds chanting dirges of woe. 

Then away to the far sunny Southland, 

To traverse those regions so fair. 
Where the Summer ne'er ceaseth to linger, 

And the Orange bloom perfumes the air. 

Where the glittering Rose in December 
Spreads its dazzling hues to the light. 

And the Lily, so pure and so fragrant. 
Displays its fair blossoms so bright. 

Where the Pine, fidl of years and of honors— 

A huge, stately pillar— dotli rise ; 
Its roots firmly fixed in their places, 

Its top reared aloft in the skies. 

Where the Liveoak, so tall and so spreading, 

Dispenses its generous shade; 
And ivaveth the Cabbage Palmetto, 

In tropical grandeur arrayed. 

Where the dense, tangled growth of the forest 

A fabric fantastical weaves. 
And twinkle the radiant sunbeams 

Through quivering branches and leaves. 

There, safe from the Ice King's rude fetters. 
With hearts full of lightness and glee. 

We will fill up our life's happy measure 
And learn to be joyous and free. 

— Joshua Morris. 




CHAPTER I. 
The Gardens and Flowers of Jacksonville. 

" Oh! Florida, romantic land. 
Enraptured I thy praises sing, 
For nature smiles on every hand. 
And Winter is as fair as Spring." 

— Mrs. Jennie S. PerMns. 

O State in all this vast Union possesses a more romantic, 
interesting and diversified history than Florida. From 
its discovery, early in the sixteenth century, by Juan 
Ponce de Leon, a romantic soldier noble of Spain, in 
his vain search for the chimerical "Fountain of Youth," its his- 
tory has been a continuous chapter of romantic occurrences, in 
which mystery and tragedy play not the least important parts. 
However, it is not my allotted task to trace its fascinating history, 
but to describe some of its most beautiful natural features, famous 
gardens and rare flora, both native and introduced, found within its 
^borders, for the benefit of my readers. 

The pleasing and very appropriate appellations of "The Land 
of Flowers" and "The Italy of America" have been applied to the 
State, and long since became synonymous with its name. Florida 
itself .is euphonious, and even to those having no idea of its deriva- 
tion it possesses a flowery suggestiveness, calling up visions of 
dreamy, tropical luxuriance, golden sunshine, sparkling, limpid 
waters, and singing birds. Ponce de Leon named the land Florida 
after the day of its discovery, which was Fascua Florida, or 
Flower Sunday. 

The following chapters will deal wholly with the peninsular 
portion of the State, commonly termed -outh Florida, but for two 
reasons I shall devote this one to Jacksonville and vicinity ; first, 
on account of the interesting and beautiful flora existing there, and 



secondly, because it is the gateway to the State, through which pass 
nine-tenths of the people who enter its borders, and, naturally, 
these people are interested to know what is to be seen in this line at 
their first stop in this flowery land. 

Anyone expecting to find a city of beautiful gardens and well- 
kept yards will, with a few notable exceptions, be disappointed in 
Jacksonville, and a casual observer n\ight even aver that there are 
no flowers or plants there worthy of note; but let your true flower 
lover wander leisurely up and down the residence streets of the 
city, as I have often done, and many beautiful and wonderful plant- 
growths will be discovered that are a delight to a true lover of 
nature and a true indication of "what might be" if kindly hands 
were to plant, weed and cultivate. 

The streets are mostly well shaded, principally by Water Oaks 
and Live Oaks, with here and there a specimen of that royal denizen 
of Southern forests, the Magnolia grandiflora, its wealth of burn- 
ished green foliage contrasting finely with its smooth, ash-gray 
trunk, and during its flowering season perfuming the surrounding 
atmosphere with its intoxicating sweetness. Specimens of the appro- 
priately named Umbrella China tree (Melia Azcdarach umhracuH- 
formls) are plentiful, holding their marvelously symmetrical heads 
poised on polished, greenish-brown, columnar trunks. If in the 
Winter only the bare branches, standing erect like the braces of an 
umbrella frame, give evidence of its characteristic shape, for it is 
deciduous; but in Summer it presents a rounded head of deepest 
green foliage through which the sun cannot cast a solitary ray, and 
so perfect in form that it is difficult to believe it has not been 
clipped. In several yards may be seen specimens of the Cabbage 
Palmetto (Sabal Palmetto) of the South, a majestic fan-leaf Palm 
which has been likened to a huge feather-duster stood on end. 
Another plant which is equally distinct in appearance is the Span- 
ish Dagger or Bayonet {Yucca aloi/oHa,) growing singly or in 
clumps on the lawns or in the fence corners, and bearing no resem- 
blance to any growth of Northern climes. Its straight, simple or 
forked trunk is densely clothed with a mass of dark green, brist- 
ling, dagger-like leaves which suggest the word tropical more than 
any other. But if anything is needed to finish the impression, grow- 
ing close by is a Century Plant (Agave,) the mammoth proportions 



of which are at once the envy and despair of tne Northern cultiva- 
tor, whose specimen of the same species is growing in a six-inch pot 
or, perhaps, has arrived to the dignity of a keg. He sees before him 
a plant which five or six years ago was a tiny offset stuck out in the 
sand aud left to shift for itself, now a gigantic specimen which 
would require a tub made from a hogshead to hold it. Its ponder- 
ous leaves, five or six inches in width and weighing several pounds 
apiece, radiate in all directions in fantastic curves, and the whole 
plant standing as high as a person. 

Occasionally a house is passed draped from basement to eaves 
by a curtain of the evergreen Blgnonla picta, which must present 
a picture of rare loveliness when studded with its large tubular 
mauve or violet flowers. I very distinctly remember in one yard a 
large Live Oak, up the body of which had climbed thrifty vines of 
English Ivy, and then hung in long, pendant streamers from the 
limbs, oscillating back and forth in every passing breeze. On a porch 
I noticed, trained up and around it, a plant of Solanum Jasminoides 
grandiflora, the vine and its branches aggregating many yards in 
length. Here and there a Date Palm (Phoenix dactyllfera) holds 
erect its pinnate, bluish leaves in a majestic manner, and specimens 
of the extremely hardy Sago Palm or Japanese Fern Palm (Cycas 
revoluta) abound, some of them with stout stems surmounted by 
noble crowns of scores of leaves— specimens which at the North 
would command from $50 to $100 each. Of its near congener, the 
Coontie (Zamia integrifoUa,) a native of South Florida, at least one 
exceptionally fine specimen exists in the city. It must be an old, 
large and long-established root, for it supports an oval mound of 
foliage as large as a good-sized tub, and as an ornamental ranks 
second only to the Cycas. * 

A very popular plant with the residents, it would seem, is the 
St. John's Lily {Crinum pedujiculatum,) for it is growing in a large 
majority of the yards where an attempt is made to cultivate any- 
thing. This gigantic member of the Amaryllis family attains a 
height of five or six feet, with a corresponding breadth of magnifi- 
cent foliage. It is almost constantly in bloom, except when cut 
down by untimely frosts, sending up stout scapes bearing immense 
umbels of from twenty to thirty, or more, large and very fragrant 
pure white flowers having purple anthers. The bulbs are large 



and stump-like, from fifteen to twenty inches in circumference at 
the neck, and often extend into the ground to a depth of from one 
and one half to two feet. When the bulb has attained a certain size 
it divides into two, these in turn and time also dividing, thus form- 
ing clumps of half a dozen or more individual bulbs, supporting an 
immense spread of foliage, among which there'is almost always at 
least one head of flowers. 

Several large clumps of these Lilies grace the little square 
magniloquently termed the City Park. Here, too, are dense clumps 
of a species of Bamboo — probably Bamhusa Metake — which pre- 
sents a strange appearance to Northern eyes not accustomed to see- 
ing grass grow large enough for fishing rods. Palms, Oaks, Sour 
Oranges, Oleanders, Cedars and Century Plants form the principal 
growth of this little park, which might be made into a spot of ex- 
ceptional beauty, 

A very interesting place to visit is the one-time Sub-Tropical b^x- 
position buildings and grounds. Here, both inside and out, are 
growing many rare and choice plants, silent but eloquent monu- 
ments to the revered memory of the lamented P. W. Reasoner, the 
enthusiastic young horticulturist who had the interests of the State 
so warmly at heart and labored so assiduously for its horticultural 
advancement. Among the objects of especial interest here are some 
enormous specimens of the Century Plant, and a fine example of the 
Fish-Tail Palm (Caryota urens.) 

Mrs. Mitchell has a beautiful garden in the suburbs, containing 
many plants noted for their great beauty, rarity or unusual inter- 
est. Among the latter class are some magnificent specimens of the 
true Tea Plant (CamcZUa Thea,) which, with their rich evergreen 
leaves and myriads of single white flowers with numerous yellow 
stamens, are no less beautiful than interesting. In some Jackson- 
ville yards the Tea Plant is employed to form a beautiful ornamental 
hedge, and in the height of the flowering season the intermingling 
of white, gold and green must be exquisite. 




CHAPTER 11. 
The Palms or Palmettoes of Florida. 

HE Palms are undoubtedly the most striking objects 
among the exceptionally varied vegetable productions 
of the State of Florida. They are highly ornamental as 
well, and a never failing source of attraction for North- 
ern eyes. Linnaeus called Palms the "Princes of the Vegetable 
Kingdom," a designation which no one will venture to dispute, and 
Charles Kingsley wrote of them as follows: "For it is a joy forever, 
a sight never to be forgotten, to have once seen Palms breaking 
through, and, as it were, defying the soft, rounded forms of the 
broad-leaved vegetation by the stern grace of their simple lines; 
the immovable pillar-stems looking the more immovable beneath 
the toss, and lash, and flicker of the long leaves, as they awake out 
of their sunlit sleep, and rage impatiently for awhile before the 
mountain gusts, and fall asleep again. Like a Greek statue in a 
luxurious drawing room, sharp-cut, cold, virginal; shaming by the 
grandeur of mere form the voluptuousness of mere color, however 
rich and harmonious; so stands the Palm in the forest — to be wor- 
shipped rather than to be loved." 

There are at least nine distinct species of Palms, representing 
six different genera, native of Florida; but of these, five are con- 
fined to the extreme southern portion of the State. The other four 
extend to the northern boundary, and beyond, but few tourists see 
more than two of these, the other two being confined to the swamps 
and thick hardwood forests termed hammocks, to distinguish them 
from the open Pine woods which occupy nearly all the rest of the 
land. 

The most conspicuous and noteworthy of these four is the Cab- 
bage Palm or Palmetto (Sabal Palmetto,) famous from well-known 
historical associations, and for the imperishability of its wood 



under water, being proof against even that scourge of Southern 
waters, the teredo. It possesses a subtle mysteriousness which is 
both awesome and irresistable, and the beholder is reminded more 
forcibly by it than by any other arborescent vegetation, that he or 
she has left the region of ice and snow far behind and is fast enter- 
ing the realm tropical. As it rears aloft its rounded head it in- 
stantly attracts and holds the attention from its total dissimilarity 
to the vegetation by which it may be surrounded. It exceptionally, 
with great age, attains a height of eighty to ninety feet, the rough 
gray trunk only eight or ten inches in diameter and shooting aloft 
bare as a ship's mast except for the feather duster-like head of fan- 
shaped leaves which crowns its apex. Until it reaches ten to twenty 
feet in height, the bases of the dead leaf stalks remain upon the 
trunk, forming a unique cheval-de-frise, adding greatly to its pic- 
turesqueness. These leaf bases are ranged around the trunk with 
perfect mathematical precision, and as the trunk swells in growth 
these sheathing bases are split up one half or two-thirds their 
length, which gives the tree the appearance of being surrounded by 
an exceedingly curious and highly ornamental lattice-work. This 
natural trellis is often taken possession of by some aspiring vine 
which soon mounts to the top of the Palm and weaves for it a 
mantle of emerald ornamented with flowers of richest hues. Be- 
tween these persistent leaf-bases and the trunk proper, there is a 
thick layer of beautiful brown fibre, in which two species of Ferns 
are often found growing high up above the ground. One of these 
is Vittaria lineata, a most curious Fern, utterly unlike any north- 
ern species. The fronds are linear, from a few inches to two feet in 
length, pendulous, and the plant resembles a tuft of dark green 
grass hanging from the side of the tree. The other species is Poly- 
podium aureum, a noble plant with large glaucous fronds. It has 
a stout root-stalk which runs about in the fibre, and it is not an 
unusual sight to see the beautiful fronds depending in a circle 
from beneath the crown of Palm leaves, twenty-five or thirty feet 
above the ground. Ophioglossmn palmatum, a tropical Fern with 
curiously forked, fleshy leaves, is rarely found growing in the 
decaying sheathing bases of the leaves of this Palm. As the tree 
advances in age its growth is slow, the leaf stalks and fibre rot and 
fall off, leaving a slim, rough trunk strinkingly like a telegraph 



pole. It derives its common name from the fact that the unde- 
veloped leaf bud in the centre of the crown of the tree, is often 
cooked and eaten, equaling in flavor the finest Cabbage; but the 
life of the tree is sacrificed for every bud taken. 

The Saw or Scrub Palmetto (Serenoa serrulata) is the most 
common Palm in Florida. Often the Pine woods are carpeted with 
it for miles in every direction, and its very numbers render the 
scene monotonous. But an individual specimen, considered by 
itself, is beautiful, and in Europe it is highly valued for pot culture. 
The leaves are circular in outline, fan-shaped and bright green. 
The slender leaf-stalks spiny-edged— hence its common name of 
Saw Palmetto— the trunk creeping and rooting on the underside, 
rendering it very difficult to remove when clearing the land. When 
growing in shady hammocks the trunk often assumes an upright 
position, sometimes eight or ten feet high, and is then a very orna- 
mental and striking object. 

In rich hammocks is found the beautiful Dwarf Palmetto {Sabal 
Adansonii,) an extremely hardy Palm, resisting unharmed a tem- 
perature as low as ten degrees Fahr. The short stem is entirely 
under ground, the dark, rich green fan shaped leaves are borne on 
short, smooth-edged stalks, and the graceful flower stalk rises 
above the leaves to a height of six or seven feet. 

In the same locations, and in wet swamps, the Blue Palmetto or 
Needle Palm {RhapldophyUum hystrix) abounds. It is an extremely 
beautiful species, and listed in European catalogues at very high 
prices, owing to its comparative scarcity. The leaves are very beau- 
tiful, shining green above and silvery gray below, deeply slit into 
narrow ribbons and borne on slender, graceful stems. Around the 
bases of these stems bristle numerous slender, keenly-pointed 
brown spines about fifteen inches long, mingled with a quantity of 
hairy fibres. These spines are undoubtedly a wise provision of nature 
to preserve from harm the flower-bud, which resembles a large 
snowy white egg nestling among the fibres, and which but for this 
protection would probably be eaten by animals. 

The Royal Palm (Oreodoxa regla,^ the " Glory of the Moun- 
tains," and the Falma real of the Spanish West Indies, one of the 
grandest of pinnate-leaved Palms, is native in several localities of 
extreme South Florida. Capt. Mayne Reid gives the following 



graphic pen picture of this Palm: "Close by the Cotton-tree stood 
another giant of the forest— rivaling the former in height, but 
differing from it as an arrow from its bow. Straight as a lance, it 
rose to the height of an hundred feet. It was branchless — as a col- 
umn of polished malachite or marble — up to its high summit, 
where its green, feather-like fronds, radiating outward, drooped 
gracefully over, like a circlet of reflexed ostrich plumes. The noble 
' Mountain Cabbage' of Jamaica, the kingly Oreodoxa." Three noble 
specimens of this Palm once stood on Cape Sable and were visible 
eighteen miles out at sea. They were destroyed by the gale of 
1872. 

Perhaps the rarest Palm known to cultivation is Florida's re- 
cently discovered PseudopJioenix Sargenti. It was discovered in 
the Summer of 1886, on Elliott's Key, by Prof. A. H. Curtiss and 
Prof. C. S. Sargent. As it was sufficiently distinct to constitute 
both a new species and a new genus, it was given the above name 
by Prof. Wendland of Germany, the specific name being in honor 
of Prof. Sargent. It is a half dwarf species, never exceeding 
twenty feet in height, is pinnate-leaved, and somewliat resembles 
some species of Phoenix. The leaf-stalks drop off as soon as the 
leaves die, leaving a free, clean-looking trunk, the upper part 
marked with alternate rings of green and brown. It is known no- 
where else in the world, and in but two small groves on the Keys 
(islands)— containing in all not over two hundred specimens. 
Several were destroyed by land clearers who were ignorant of its 
rarity. 

The genus Thrinax is represented by at least three beautiful 
species, all confined to the coast or Keys of extreme South Florida, 
far below the lines of travel frequented by most tourists. The 
Prickly Thatch {Thrinax parvijtora) is a most beautiful fan Palm, 
with slender, graceful stem and leaves, and attains a final height of 
thirty feet. The Silver Thatch (T. argentca) is of final greater size 
as respects stem and leaves, and the latter are silvery white on the 
under side. The third species is T. cxcelsa, with very large fan- 
shaped leaves, four to five feet long, and about the same in diame- 
ter, light green above and hoary glaucous beneath. 




CHAPTER III. 
A Trip Up the St. John's River. 

" ' By St. John's romantic river,' 

Orange, Palms and Live Oaks grow. 
And cast down their fair reflections 

In the amber waves below ; 
And the Moonflower weaves around them 

Her green canopy of vines 
That are starred with snow-white flowers 

When the summer moonlight shines." 

TRIP to Florida, or a residence in this State, without 
a trip up or down that grand, sub-tropical river, the 
St. John's, is, to make use of an old and familiar com- 
parison, like the play of Hamlet with Hamlet left 
out. Nowhere in all tbis broad Union — north, south, east or west 
—may a more delightful trip be taken, or one which will leave a 
more pleasant and indelible impression upon the memory. True, 
there are more awe-inspiring scenes and greater height, breadth 
and depth in the views found in mountain regions; but the same 
are duplicated in many and widely separated sections of our vast 
domain, while there is but one Florida, and nothing resembling the 
St. John's is found outside its borders. 

On the first day of May, 1562, Jean Ribaut crossed the St. John's 
bar and named the stream within in honor of that day, "La Riviere 
de Mai." This name the Spaniards changed into San Mateo, but 
the river is now known as the St. John's. Taking its rise among 
the springs of southern Florida, it flows north for a distance, in all 
its twists and turns, of more than four hundred miles, to Jackson- 
ville, where it turns eastward and empties into the Atlantic Ocean, 
twenty-five miles from that city; and for the greater part of this 
distance its banks are lined with a luxuriant sub tropical vegeta- 
tion, mingled with some familiar growths of temperate climes. 



J^roni its mouth to the city of Sanford it forms a liquid highway 
some two hundred and eighteen miles in length, navigable for large 
steamers, and its banks dotted at intervals by picturesque cities and 
villages, Orange groves and solitary residences. Near the sea it is 
a broad, majestic stream winding amongst marshes dotted with 
island-like mounds of higher ground clothed with Pines, Live 
Oaks and a variety of lower-growing vegetation, spots of deepest 
interest to the botanist. 

Nearing Jacksonville the banks grow higher, rising in many 
places into bold bluffs crowned with residences and an occasional 
Orange grove. But thus far there is little suggestive of the tropics, 
except the deliciously soft, balmy air, the rounded heads of the 
Cabbage Palms, and the long gray moss festooning the limbs of 
the giant Live Oaks. 

Although from Jacksonville to Sanford the distance on an air 
line is only a trifle over one hundred miles,— and by rail is only one 
hundred and twenty-five miles — by the river, owing to its innumer- 
able windings, one hundred and ninety-three miles must be trav- 
ersed. After rounding Grassy Point oft" Jacksonville, the average 
width of this grand stream for a distance of seventy-five miles 
south is more than three miles, widening at Green Cove Springs to 
five miles. Numerous small villages dot either side, and one — 
Mandarin — on the east bank, possesses special interest. Here, near 
the landing, and almost hidden among fine old Oaks and Orange 
trees, is the home of the celebrated authoress of "Uncle Tom's 
Cabin," Mrs. H. B. Stowe. Thirty miles from Jacksonville is Green 
Cove Springs, noted for its magnificent sulphur spring. It is 
located in u wooded and picturesque hollow, and gushes forth 
3,000 gallons of water per minute, clear and pure as crystal. 

As the steamer glides on over the placid water the scenery be- 
comes more varied. Orange groves appear in greater numbers, and 
as these are approached the golden, sunlit air pulsates with the 
wondrous song of that "winged mimic of the woods," the mock- 
ing bird. The river gradually narrows, vegetation grows thicker 
and more tropical, the scenery is wilder, and cranes, from snowy 
white to the common blue, as well as numerous other aquatic birds, 
are seen in the tall grasses along the shore, or running about on 
the Lily pads. 



At last the boat enters what is called the Upper St. John's ; and 
here the scene becomes weird, beautiful and picturesque beyond 
description. In many places the river narrows to a width of only 
one hundred feet and winds and turns and curves like a gigantic 
serpent. The banks are lined with vegetation of the greatest luxu- 
riance, and almost every individual growth is unfamiliar to the 
Northern eye. The Cabbage Palm, in every stage of its growth, 
rears aloft its noble form, growing down to the water's edge, some- 
times singly, sometimes in groups, and sometimes in groves, to the 
exclusion of everything else ; the lordly Magnolia towers aloft in 
all its majesty of russet brown and emerald green, while the gentle 
zephyrs disclose in silver ripples the abiding places of the Sweet 
Bay; the wet places are occupied by colonies of the funereal Cypress, 
with huge buttressed trunks and attendant swarms of curiosity- 
provoking "knees," the plumy boughs, so high aloft, silhouetted 
against a sky as deeply and intensely blue as the waters beneath are 
dark ; vines of many genera and species run riot, binding bush to 
bush and tree to tree in an inextricable tangle, from which peeps 
forth, here and there, a brilliant blossom gleaming like the flash of 
the wing of some gorgeous feathered songster of the tropics ; long 
silvery strands and waving banners of Spanish Moss are draped 
from every limb with a prodigal profuseness afforded only by a 
nature whose resources are inexhaustible, and, while strongly em- 
phasizing the weirdness and unique beauty of the scene, tends to 
vary and lighten the mass of vegetation which at times becomes 
oppressive from its very density and luxuriance. Mrs. Jennie S. 
Perkins, in her beautiful poem, "Summer on the St. John's," the 
first verse of which heads this article, draws the following exqui- 
site picture of the scene : 

" Moss-veiled trees, like nuns enshrouded. 

All in grey in silence stand ; 
Through the boughs the golden sunbeams 

Drop their crosses on the sand. 
Stealing through the solemn stillness 

Gentle murmurs fill the air, 
Like the penitential sighing 

Of the holy monks at prayer." 

Anon the boat glides past the mouth of some little tributary 
stream flowing through a perfect archway of never-fading green, 
up which maybe caught a momentary flash of the flaming blossoms 



of Hibiscus coccinea. The northern Lobelia cardinalis mingles 
its glowing wands with the white Lily-like umbels of Crinum 
americanum, while the delicious sweetness of innumerable Spider 
Lilies rises like incense upon an already perfume-laden atmosphere. 
And so the scene continues until the steamer emerges into Lake 
Monroe, every bend and curve revealing new beauties and new com- 
binations, the whole forming a picture the impression of which will 
never fade from the mind's eye. 

Nothing can be conceived of more beautiful and soul-inspiring 
than the St. John's by moonlight. Nowhere have I seen Luna 
shine with such clearness and brilliancy as in this fair clime, there- 
by greatly intensifying all shadows and producing exceptionally 
weird and beautiful effects. Shining upon the rippling waters of 
this glorious stream, the steamer seems to be gliding along a path- 
way of moulten silver, between walls of verdure sparkling with the 
frost-white blossoms of the Moonflower. Gen. Grant, at the close 
of a day and moonlight night on this river, said: "In all my jour- 
ney round the world I have seen nothing to equal this trip." 

But if the river is transcendently beautiful by moonlight, it is 
inexpressibly weird and grand on a dark night, when the search- 
light is brought into play to light up the steamer's course. The 
transformation is as marvelous as though produced by a magician's 
wand. The banks on either hand, and the water beneath seem to 
be gliding swiftly past, while every tree, shrub, vine and flower 
within a certain distance from the shore line, is thrown into start- 
ling relief upon a pall-like background of seemingly impenetrable 
darkness, and the curious floating Water Lettuce appears like 
lovely, snow-white Water-Lily blossoms drifting in a sea of ink. 

I cannot close this feeble attempt at describing this beautiful 
river in a more fitting manner than by quoting the closing stanza 
of Mrs. Perkins' poem: 

" Dark and shadowed are the forests, 
Weird and tropic is the gloom, 
All above is dreamy splendor. 
All below is scent and bloom. 
' Where St. John's romantic river ' 
Rolls in grandeur silently. 
Nature plants her fairy gardens 
From his sources to the sea." 




CHAPTER IV. 
Wonderful Plant Growths in Florida. 

" There is continual spring and harvest there, 
For all the plants do scented blossoms bear; 
Among the shady leaves, their sweet delight 
Throw forth such dainty odors day and night." 

EW objects impress the tourist or newcomer to Florida 
with more amazement and delight than the great size 
attained here in the open ground by m.-iny of their 
favorite pot plants of the North. Very many plants 
which, under pot culture, give no indications of being other than 
dwarfs by nature, are, in reality, quite the opposite when sur- 
rounded by environments conducive to their full development. 
Many of the most treasured pets of the northern conservatory or 
window garden find in a Florida ji^carden perfect congeniality of soil 
and temperature, and rapidly assume proportions which seem 
almost incredible to a Northern flower lover and cultivator. 

A striking illustration is furnished by many varieties of Roses. 
Here the Everblooming sorts are as hardy as the Hybrid Perpetuals 
or Mosses at the North, and if given a little attention annually in 
the way of fertilizing, pruning and cultivating, they soon attain 
enormous proportions, and literally load themselves with flowers. 
Safrano, Isabella Sprunt, La France, Catherine Mermet, etc., eight 
feet high and equally as broad, bending under a combined weight 
of hundreds of buds and blossoms, are not unusual and are not the 
largest sizes attained by any means. The old Agrippina and Pink 
Daily Roses are very common in this state, and one or both are 
to be found in the yard of almost every native Floridian. They are 
everblooming in every sense of the word, never being without flow- 
ers, though produced in greater profusion at certain seasons. I 
know of a specimen of each of these Roses, growing in the same 



yard, which have attained unusual size and are really wonderful 
objects to behold. The Agrippina has a stem twenty-four inches in 
circumference, is nine and one-half feet high, and the entire bush 
fifty-four feet in circumference. It is of regular oval shape, and 
when I saw it a bushel of Roses could have been cut from it and not 
been missed. The Pink Daily has a tree-like stem nearly six inches 
in diameter, but the bush is not so regular in shape as the Agrip- 
pina. Another party has a Tea Rose (probably Phoenix,) which is 
eight and one-half feet high and fourteen feet wide. 

But Marechal Niel, when budded or grafted on some strong- 
growing sort, makes a growth which casts all the above quite into 
the shade. When the stock is a congenial one, this exquisite Rose 
will run like a grapevine, soon clambering to the ridge-pole of a 
two-story building and producing bushels of its golden globes of 
exquisite perfume and often of immense size. While the flowers 
are slow to develop, they are very persistent, remaining in good 
form for a long time, often until they wear out. A neighbor pos- 
sesses a remarkably fine specimen of this Rose. Is is five years old, 
the main stem is seven inches in circumference, and the plant covers 
about thirty feet square, but would have covered at least fifty feet 
square had it not been kept cut back. The owner is sure that if 
let grow, and a trellis made for it, in three years it would cover 
one-half acre of ground. It blooms more or less every month in the 
year, but in February, March and April it bears a full crop of fiow- 
ers, having as many as three hundred Roses at one time. 

Those familiar with the Lantana as a pot plant only can hardly 
conceive of the wonderful proportions to which it attains here in 
the open ground, its marvelous rapidity of growth and prodigal 
profusion of bloom. A small plant set out in the poorest soil will 
attain a height of four or five feet, with a spread of ten feet, inside 
of a year, and be completely covered with flowers nearly all the 
time. If cut down by frost it soon sprouts up stronger than ever, 
and goes on increasing in size from year to year. We have a row 
of these plants which have developed into an unbroken hedge ten 
feet wide and six feet high. When in bloom, butterflies constantly 
hover about, and the blue-black berries are as eagerly sought and 
devoured by the mocking-birds. One of my correspondents in this 
State has a Lantana bush ten feet high, with a spread of thirty-one 



feet ! How would some of our Northern sister flower lovers fancy 
the task of lifting and potting such a giant ? 

This same correspondent possesses a remarkably fine plant of 
the Malayan Jessamine (Rhyncospermum Jasminoides,) a choice 
evergreen climber often cultivated in pots at the North. It was set 
out fifteen years ago, and is trained up a stout lightwood pole ten 
inches in diameter and twenty-two feet high, stuck full of pegs two 
feet long. The main stem is now ten and one-fourth inches in cir- 
cumference, and it covers the pole entirely with a mass of stems and 
its beautiful glossy foliage, from six to ten feet in diameter, and 
for weeks in the Spring the whole plant is a cloud of lovely white 
flowers, which fills the house and grounds with delightful fra- 
grance. 

Russelia juncea, or Coral Plant, as some call it, which has 
recently been brought prominently before the public, is another 
plant which makes a remarkable growth in this State and flowers 
almost the year round. An established plant is constantly sending 
up stout canes six or eight feet high, clothed with peculiar Rush-like 
branches and myriads of tubular, coral red flowers. Many of the 
canes are simply great plumes or ropes of flowers, bending and 
swaying under their own weight of loveliness. When allowed its 
own sweet will the branches droop until their tips touch the earth, 
into which they quickly root and send up fresh shoots, these in turn 
taking root and the plants spreading over a considerable space of 
ground. I have been told of a specimen which, left unmolested for 
some years, attained a height of twelve or fifteen feet and covered a 
space twice as large as the ground floor of a good-sized dwelling 
house. 

Nearly all members of the Amaryllis family grow to perfection 
in this State, requiring little or no care after planting out, and 
some species of Crinum attain a great size, and produce an immense 
number of flowers. On our grounds there is a fine specimen of 
Crinuifn augustum, or "Grandolia,"' as it is called in some local- 
ities, which would astonish the cultivator of ordinary Amaryllis. 
The neck of the bulb is twenty-seven inches in circumference at the 
surface of the ground, and extends below the surface at least two 
feet. From this bulb there radiates upward and outward thirty- 
three luxuriant leaves, the longest ones measuring five feet and ten 

^7 



inches from base to tip, and seven and one-half inches wide at the 
broadest part. The ends of these leaves droop downward in a very 
graceful and symmetrical manner, and as the plant stands, without 
straightening up the ends of the leaves, it measures five feet and 
three inches in height, and six feet and three inches through the top 
or spread of leaves. It is almost constantly in bloom, and the 
umbels of buds and open flowers are often larger than a half bushel 
measure. But this bulb has been planted only about three years. 
An old and long-established bulb has produced an umbel of flowers 
so large that when carried in a covered buggy it completely hid the 
person in the scat. 

Space will not admit of descriptions of all the plants which at- 
tain to unusual proportions in Florida, and I can only briefly men- 
tion a few more of the most notable examples. Oleanders thrive 
like weeds, and quickly attain to the dimensions of respectable sized 
trees. Specimens, with trunks two feet in circumference, twenty- 
five or thirty feet high, and even forty feet through the top, are not 
unusual. The Chinese Hibiscus is equally at home here, though 
more susceptible to frost, and frequently attains a height of 
twelve or fifteen feet with a spread of ten or twelve feet. Begonia 
rubra has been trained over the front door of a house, and even 
along the ceiling of the veranda, producing clusters of fiowers as 
large as a child's head, and hanging on the plant for six months. 
Solanum J asminoides grandiflora will completely cover a whole 
veranda, and be white as snow with flowers; the Rose Geranium 
grows six or eight feet high, and ten or more feet across; a plant of 
Justicia coccinea has attained a width of nine and one-half feet 
and seven and one- fourth feet high, and the Plumbagos grow ten 
feet high and wide. All of these plants produce flowers in quite 
as wonderful profusion as the size they attain to ; but the blue rib- 
bon must be awarded to an Allamanda Hcndersonii, which dur- 
ing a season of five months produced a total of about twelve 
thousand flowers, there being from two to three hundred open 
every day. 




CHAPTER V. 
Silver Spring and its Romantic Legend. 

I'l'HIN the borders of Florida are found many remarkable 
and beautiful springs, but the most wondrous and 
world-famed of them all is Silver Spring, located in 
Marion county, about five miles east of the city of 
Ocala. This spring, like some others in the State, is remarkable 
for its great size and depth and the immense volume of water which 
it constantly discharges, forming a navigable river up which good- 
sized steamers ply into the spring itself. In or connected with this 
spring are several deep basins or pools known locally as the 
"Head," "Bridal Chamber," "Bone Yard," etc., and the combined 
waters of these forms Silver Spring Run, which extends between 
wooded banks for a distance of six miles, when it mingles with the 
dark waters of the Ocklawaha river, a tributary of the St. John's. 

But the most remarkable phenomenon connected with Silver 
Spring is the marvelous transparency of the water, surpassing the 
wildest flights of the imagination and quite beyond the belief of 
those who have never visited the place. Although the maximum 
depth of the water in the "head spring" or "pool" and adjacent 
springs is from sixty to ninety feet, every feature and configuration 
of the bottom is as distinctly visible as though gazing through a 
clear atmosphere instead of water. In some places the bottom is 
covered with a luxuriant growth of fresh water Algae, while in 
others it is wholly clear of vegetation and is composed of limestone 
and white sand. Here are fissures in the limestone through which 
the water is seen boiling up. These fissures are filled with sand 
and comminuted limestone, and the agitation thereof by the as- 
cending currents of water produces a milk-white appearance about 
the crevices. 

Craving into the depths below from the side of a boat floating 

*9 



over the surface, on a clear and calm sunny day, one seems sus- 
pended in mid-air, viewing beneath an ever-changing panorama of 
darting fish, subaqueous vegetation waving to and fro, boiling 
springs, swaying Algae, etc., beautiful beyond description and mak- 
ing a powerful and lasting impression upon the imagination. The 
sunlight tinges each object with prismatic hues, and by some 
strange, weird, magnifying property of the waters, objects are en- 
larged and seem so near as to render it difficult to realize the actual 
depth of the water. Fish which seem within easy reach are, in 
reality, resting safe far below the range of a long-handled spear, 
and if a dime or other bright object be dropped in, it may be 
watched slowly settling in the depths, with prismatic changes and 
flashings of light, and seemingly growing larger as it sinlis. I 
know it will seem impossible to my readers when I state that a tiny 
piece of white paper the size of a silver three cent piece or even 
smaller, lying at the bottom of the spring is as distinguishable as 
though within a foot of the eye, and even the V on a nickel five 
cent piece is plainly discernable, but it is true. An ordinary store 
sign has been sunk in the spring and lies on the bottom face up. 
From the deck of the steamer, as it moved across the surface of the 
spring, I read the name on the sign as easily as though it lay on the 
deck at my feet instead of under more than sixty feet of water 
clearer than air. Although the sign is one of the most ordinary 
cheap affairs, such as appear on small country stores, the wondrous 
powers of the water renders it positively beautiful, for the letters 
and the board on which they are painted, are bordered or edged 
with prismatic hues like miniature rainbows. And every blade of 
grass or other object in the spring, is bordered with the same ex- 
quisite colors and tints. 

When the steamers enter the spring after nightfall they carry 
lighted torches, which produces an effect more weird and wonder- 
ful than the most vivid imagination is able to picture. Mrs. Har- , 
riet Beecher Stowe paints the following vivid pen picture of such 
an entrance: "We seemed floating through an immense catliedral, 
where white marble columns meet in vast arches overhead and are 
reflected in the grassy depths below. The dusky plumes of the 
Palmetto waving above, lit by torchlight, looked like fine tracery 
of a wondrous sculptured roof. The brilliant underwhite of th^ 



Bay leaves, the transparent red of the Water Maple, and the soft 
velvet feathers of the Cypress, had a magical brilliancy as our boat 
passed through the wooded isles. The reflected fire-light gave the 
most peculiar effect. The gray moss that streamed down seemed 
like draping veils of silver and was of wonderful profusion. Clouds 
of fragrance were wafted to us from Orange groves along the shore; 
and the transparent depth of the water gave the impression that 
our boat was moving through the air. Every pebble aod aquatic 
plant we glided over seemed, in the torcblight, invested with prism- 
atic brightness. What a sight was that! There is nothing on earth 
comparable to it!" 

Like most places of unusual natural beauty and interest. Silver 
Spring has its Indian legend. In substance it is as follows: Oka- 
humkee, who was king over the tribes of Indians who roamed and 
hunted about the northwestern lakes, had a daughter called We- 
nonah, who was the pride of his life. She possessed rare beauty, 
and had a wealth of raven tresses which fell about her beauteous 
form like a silken robe, reflecting back the sunlight with wondrous 
effect. Chiefs and warriors vied with each other in the perform- 
ance of brave feats, in the hope of winning the hand of this forest 
belle; but Wenonah had, in the meantime, seen and loved Chuleo- 
tah, a renowned chief of the tribe which, dwelt among the wild 
groves of Silver Spring. Small wonder that Chuleotah stirred the 
depths of dusky Wenonah's heart, for he was not only a famous 
chief, but a magnificent type of physical manhood and possessed 
of unusual intelligence and bravery. 

But between the tribes of Okahumkee and Chuleotah there ex- 
isted a deadly feud, and no sooner did the former learn of his 
daughter's love for the hated chief, than he gathered his warriors 
and marched forth to give him battle. In the fight which followed 
Chuleotah was slain by Okahumkee. As soon as Wenonah learned 
that her lover was dead she flew to the Crystal Fountain, which had 
been a favorite trysting place, and upon its still bosom beheld the 
pale spirit of Chule ..tah beckoning to her. With this cry upon her 
lips: "Yes, my own, my loved one, I come !" she plunged into 
the crystal waters and joined her lover in the happy hunting 
grounds. The long, green filaments of moss and fresh water Al- 
gae growing from the white sands in the bottom of the spring, 



moving to and fro in the sunlight which they reflect in many 
bright hues, are the loosened braids of Wenonah's hair, from 
which the beauteous reflections of sun and moonlight are the chief 
glory of the spring. 

While gazing into its crystal depths and musing on the roman- 
tic legend connected with it, comes the thought whether tiiis may 
not be the spring the gallant old Spaniard, Ponce de Leon, heard 
of; the magical Fountain of Youth which he searched Florida in 
vain to discover. It may be that it was the fame of this identical 
spring which reached his ears, leading to one of the most romantic 
episodes in the early history of this country. 

The water in Silver Spring Run, from its source to where it 
joins the black flood of the Ocklawaha, is nearly as transparent as 
in the spring, and a boat ride up or down its length is a charming 
experience. In some places it is shallow and the bottom thickly 
covered with aquatic vegetation; in others the current has scooped 
out great pools, twenty, thirty, even fifty feet in depth— though the 
inexperienced would guess the water not over six to ten feet deep — 
the bottom covered with white sand which, however, looks bluish 
through the water. Great fish lie or glide about in these pools, pay- 
ing not the slightest attention to boat or steamer, thougli they seem 
as though within two or three feet of the surface. Along the banks 
Lobelia cardinalls mingles its fiery bloom with the snowy white- 
ness and sweetness of Grlniun americanum and other wild flow- 
ers, and if the day is a warm one, an alligator may very likely be 
surprised taking his sun-bath on an old log. 

There are two ways of reaching this famous spring. One is by 
steamer from Palatka via the St. Jolin's and Ocklawaha rivers, a 
marvelous trip described in the following chapter; the other by the 
Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad, the great trunk line of 
Florida. The depot is built over the edge of the spring, and the 
north and south bound trains meet here at noon and stop nearly 
a half hour for dinner and a view of this interesting wonder; but 
one may profitably spend hours, or even days, here in examining 
and admiring this remarkable phenomenon of nature. 




CHAPTER VI. 
On the Wondrous Ocklawaha. 

HE most singular stream of water in the United States is 
undoubtedly the Ocklawaha river. Such a combination 
of weirdness, beauty and enchantment, oftimes combined 
with utter desolation, as exists between the mouth of 
this river and Silver Spring, cannot be found in any other part of 
the United States. A tributary of the St. John's, all the beauty and 
fascination of that romantic river is here reproduced and intensi- 
fied tenfold, and a trip up or down the Ocklawaha is an experience 
the memory of which will never be effaced from the mind that is at 
all impressional. 

Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe in writing of a trip up this stream, 
rightly termed it "a visit to Fairy Land," and of her fellow passen- 
gers she said: "They returned from their trip fairly inebriated 
with enthusiasm and wild with inherent raptures. They had seen 
Europe, Italy, Naples and the Blue Grotto, but never, never had 
they in their lives seen aught so entrancing as this. It was a spec- 
tacle weird, wondrous, magical— to be remembered as one of the 
things of a lifetime." Of her own impressions of the Ocklawaha, 
she continues in her graphic style: "The boat glides on from hour 
to hour as the river winds and turns and doubles upon itself, with 
still the same flowery solitudes, reverberating with the same wild 
cries of birds, glittering with slanting sunbeams, festooned with 
waving garlands that hang from tree to tree. " 

This river has its source in the great Lake Apopka, and flows 
through Lakes Harris, Eustis, Griffin, etc., being navigable a dis- 
tance of two hundred and forty-one miles. The Indian, with his 
characteristic fondness for the use of descriptive appellatives, gave 
it the musical and very appropriate name of Ocklawaha, meaning 
winding water. The significance of the name is fully appreciated 



by the voyager on its dark waters, for between its mouth and the 
point where it is joined by the crystal flood of Silver Spring Run, a 
distance of about one hundred and ten miles, there are no less than 
nine hundred and seventj'^-six bends — the most of them very abrupt 
ones which the steamers round with some difficulty. Added to its 
tortuousness the channel is so narrow that the steamers plying on 
its surface are built in stories, one deck above another, looking like 
very narrow houses perched on a tug-boat with a big paddle wheel 
at the stern. 

These steamers start from Palatka, on the St. John's river, and 
run to Silver Spring, a trip alone worth going any distance to take. 
Although Palatka and Silver Spring are only a trifle over fifty 
miles apart on an air line, by water the distance is one hundred and 
thirty-six miles, and it takes tweutj'-four hours to make the trip. 
The first twenty-six miles is on the bosom of the noble St. John's, 
between banks lined with beautiful Orange groves or clothed with 
Oaks, Pines, Magnolias, Water Maples, etc., every bay and cove 
filled with Water Lilies interspersed with the curious Water Let- 
tuce, and the still more curious and beautiful Water Hyacinth 
which has become thoroughly naturalized and is constantly met 
serenely sailing about, as blown by the breeze, sometimes singly 
and sometimes in groups. 

Presently the steamer's bow is headed for the seemingly^ un- 
broken line of the shore, but a slight opening in the solid wall of 
verdure appears, through which the steamer glides and enters 
the mystic Ocklawaha. 

" Over our heads the towering, tenebrous bouglis of the cypress 
Met iu a dusky arch, and trailing mosses in mid-air 
Waved like banners that hang on the walls of ancient cathedrals; 
Death-like the silence seemed, and unbroken, save by the herons. 
Home to their roosts in the cedar trees returning at sunset. 
Or by the owl, as he greeted the moon with demoniac laughter." 

At once begins a series of twists and turns that extend without 
interruption to the end of the journey, and at no time is the man at 
the wheel — iu the pilot-house perched on the upper deck — motion- 
less many moments in succession, for no sooner has the steamer 
labored around a sharp curve to the right, than the wheel must be 
reversed in order to make an equally abrupt turn to the left, and 

24 



this goes on unceasingly. On either hand the verdure is so neal* 
that it may be almost reached from the deck rail, and while round- 
ing many of the bends of the river the branches of the trees brush 
the sides of the boat. At one point called Cypress Gate, formerly 
stood two immense Cypress trees growing exactly opposite each 
other on either bank, with just room enough between them for the 
steamer to pass through. One of them has been cut down, but the 
stump remains. 

On top of the pilot-house is a large iron cage, and as night comes 
on this is filled with pine knots and set on fire to furnish light to 
steer by; and then what a scene is revealed and what a transforma- 
tion! The flaring light casts a glow ahead and upon either hand, 
while in the darkness behind trails a comet-like tail of smoke and 
glittering sparks. By the artificial light the white trunks of the 
Magnolias look like polished columns of silver, the moss-draped 
crowns of the towering Cypress appear as if enshrouded in exqui- 
site bridal veils, and the umbrageous Palms, feathery Ferns, trail- 
ing vines, lance-like reeds and waving water grasses combine to 
form silhouettes of wondrous designs and infinite variety. 

A faint glow appearing on the distant sky and gradually draw- 
ing nearer, indicates that a down-stream steamer is approaching, 
and at the first convenient widening in the river-bed our boat is 
crowded close up to the bank, and fastened there, to await the arri- 
val and passing of the other; and now occurs a magic scene, one 
impossible to fully describe. Nearer and nearer comes the ap- 
proaching steamer, a line of fire among the tree tops marking her 
erratic course. Although but a short distance away on a direct 
line, the serpentine course of the river multiplies it many times. 
Like a demon spouting fire from its nostrils, the steamer labors 
through the intricacies of the labyrinth she is threading. Her illu- 
minated form is now partially visible through the trees and every 
moment it seems as if she must burst into full view and pass, but 
as often is her bow suddenly turned from us and she plunges into 
the darkness of a piece of thick, intervening forest, to shortly reap- 
pear at a nearer point, but only to repeat this interesting game of 
hide-and-seek. 

Finally she sweeps around the last bend of the stream and 
comes into full view, lights flashing from every door and window. 



A dusky form casts an armful of pine knots into the blazing cage 
and ten thousand sparks shoot heavenward, rivaling in brilliancy 
the pyrotechnic display of a northern Fourth of July; the steamers 
salute, the ear-splitting blasts dying away in the distant solitudes 
of the primeval forest; the decks are crowded with enraptured 
tourists, and on the lower forward deck a group of darkies, with 
banjos, are singing, with the matchless melody of their race, "Way 
Down in Dixie." Only a moment the dazzling vision lasts ere it 
sweeps around the next bend, the lines of our own craft are cast off 
and the engine set in motion once more. So fascinating and unique 
is the ever-chauging panorama of light and shadow effects that it 
is nearly midnight before the desire to sleep asserts itself. 

In the early morning light much of the weirdness of the night 
scene is transformed into pictures of magic beauty. Sitting on the 
deck, a hundred strange forms of vegetation present themselves on 
every hand and every curvein the river reveals new beauties. Sud- 
denly the moss veiled crowns of the towering Cypresses assume a 
roseate tinge that betokens the advent of sunrise. Rapidly it de- 
scends those immense trunks and presently, through the curtains 
of branch and leafage, the golden beams fall athwart the deck. 
Now they are shining from the right ; a sudden curve in the river 
and they fall from straight ahead; another bend, and the sunshines 
from the left, and yet another curve and its rays fall from behind. 
Thus in half an hour's time the steamer's bow has indicated the 
four points of the compass. 

Palms abound on every hand, holding their noble crowns aloft 
like the royal princes of the vegetable kingdom that they are, or be- 
neath the shade of more aspiring growths hide the rich mold with 
myriads of cool green fans which are waved only by the winds of 
heaven. Trees, shrubs and vines, strange to Northern eyes, are on 
every side, forced into the greatest luxuriance possible by a soil of 
wonderful fertility. Thousands of Crinum amerlcanum line the 
banks, thrusting above their lush, green foliage umbels of pure 
white, Lily-like flowers of exquisite beauty and fragrance. And so 
it continues. No pen can describe it, no imagination can picture it. 
It must be seen to be appreciated, and once seen it will live in the 
memory as long as memory itself endures. 



26 



/ 




CHAPTER VII. 
Way Down on the Indian River. 

Thousands of flowers there are beaming, 

The verdure smiling, and the hushed waves dreaming; 

Each flower is still a brighter hue assuming, 

Each a fair league, the love-sick air perfuming." 

QUALLY as iuteresting, wonderful and beautiful as the 
Ocklawaha — described in the preceding chapter — but in a 
different way, is the famous Indian River called by the 
Seminole Indian, in his liquid language, " Tsetsa-ta- 
hatchec.''^ It is a broad, beautiful stream that extends for one hun- 
dred and fifty miles along the eastern coast of South Florida, and 
in reality is more of a sound than a river, for it is an arm of the sea 
fed through narrow inlets, rising and falling with the tides and par- 
taking of the bj-ine and marine life of the great outlying ocean. 
With a channel two miles in width, it stretches 
"Like a broad blue ribbon lying" 
for a distance of one hundred miles without a curve, separated from 
the Atlantic by a narrow sand dune. 

This long, straight stretch is the direct opposite extreme of the 
"winding water" of the Ocklawaha, but at a point known as the 
"Narrows," there are windings of the river bed, with curves and 
turns innumerable, duplicating the tortuousness of the latter 
stream, the banks clothed with a tropical tangle of Mangroves and 
vines — a jungle almost impenetrable, but beautiful and fascinating 
to look upon. The river is shallow, and the clean, sandy bottom 
visible through the clear water that is amber when looked through 
but beautifully blue when looked upon ; and all along the shores 
are bordered with a stratum of soft, yellowish rock, a curious con- 
glomeration of small shells, known as coquina. 

Where the banks have not been denuded of their natural 
growth, they are clothed with a rich tropical forest of Palms, 



Cypress, Oaks, twines, numerous under shrubs and vines; and the 
alternating: and intermingling of these with the never-fading green 
of the Orange, Lemon and Lime groves, the extensive Pineapple 
plantations and numerous residences and hotels, surrounded by 
strange tropical and semi-tropical fruits and brilliant flowering 
plants and shrubs, forms a rare scenic panorama of never-ending 
beauty and interest. 

At some points there are whole forests of the lordly Cabbage 
Palm or Palmetto, lending a strange and truly tropical aspect to 
the landscape. All sizes and ages are represented, from the tiny 
seedling just sending its first bciby leaf above the fostering mold, to 
the grand old specimens aged beyond the knowledge of man, with 
lithe, smooth boles shooting far up into space and ending in a 
feathery, rounded crown clearly outlined against the soft blue sky. 
One wanders beneath their shade awed by their majesty and 
grandeur, and strangely impressed by the mystic whispering of 
their rustling leav s and the evident strength of their slim, supple 
trunks which have successfully defied the sea winds for an untold 
age. 

The surface of the stream is relieved, in places, by small islands 
— suggesting the "summer isles of Eden lying in the dark purple 
spheres of sea" — little green gems that have been styled "emerald 
globes in a fairy lake." Surrounded by Mangroves and crowned by 
a few waving Palms, these rocky islets afford a welcome retreat 
and nesting-places to the numerous sea birds that frequent the 
river. Here, too, may be seen the strange anomaly of oysters 
growing on trees, a statement that sounds ridiculous, but is, never- 
theless, true. When the tide recedes, the luscious bivalves are 
exposed adhering to the curious stilt-like and much forked aerial 
roots of the Mangroves, and they may be gathered into a basket 
much the same as fruit is gathered from bushes or trees. 

In the vicinity of the shores of the river there are many ancient 
shell mounds, mute reminders of a departed people, which doubt- 
less contain relics of much value and absorbing interest to the 
archaeologist ; and the out-cropping, wave-washed stratum of 
coquina stands ready to yield up, under the stroke of the geologist's 
hammer, its quota of the history of the rise of this fair land above 
the blue waters of the surrounding ocean and Gulf. 



Only from three to five miles west of this river winds the 
waters of the upper St. John's, and probably nowhere else in the 
known world is this curious phenomenon duplicated — two rivers in 
such close oroximity, the one flowing north, the other south, one 
fresh, the other salt, and both finding an outlet on the same coast 
and into the same ocean, but at points more than two hundred 
miles apart. Until the winter of 1893-4, the waters of^ the Indian 
River formed the only highway to the region through which it 
runs and to the tropical wonders and beauties of the famous Lake 
Worth region, where the Cocoanut Palm grows in all its beauty 
and the Banyan-like Florida Rubber-tree astonishes all beholders 
by its eccentric growth. 

The Indian River region has always been famous for its fine 
fruits. Around the upper part of the river are some of the oldest 
and finest Orange groves in the State, and Lemons, Limes, Citron 
and Grape Fruit abound in perfection. Besides these, there are 
grown in more limited quantities semi-tropical and tropical fruits 
that are rarely, if ever, seen in Northern markets. Most plentiful 
is the Guava, with its musky scented and flavored fruit, so delicious 
to all who acquire a taste for it. The Sapodilla or Naseberry 
(Achras savota,) a tree with beautiful broad, glossy leaves, ripens 
its fruit, which may be compared to a Russet Apple, with the taste 
of a rich, sweet, juicy Pear, with granulated pulp. Another 
delicious fruit grown is the Sugar Apple or Sweet Sop {Anona 
squamosa.) The fruit resembles an inverted cone, or a small Pine- 
apple minus t e crown, is of a yellowish green color when ripe, 
the pulp very sweet and of the consistency of soft butter. The 
Mango {Mangtfera Indica) and the Alligator or Avocado Pear (Per- 
sea gratissima) form large trees of striking aspect and great 
beauty, and produce fruit of much value. 

But the chief fruit of this region, and the one for which it is 
becoming the most famous, is the Pineapple, the raising of which 
is becoming a business of great magnitude, and yearly bringing 
thousands of dollars into the State. Until within the past three or 
four years, Florida Pineapples were hardly a factor in the North- 
ern markets; but last year the crop amounted to 50,000 or perhaps 
60,000 cases, a case holding as much as a small barrel. The variety 
paostly raised for shipment is the Red Spanish or Strawberry, s\, 

?9 



variety that stands transportation the best of any. When it is 
allowed to ripen on the plant it is a very fine fruit, but for shipping 
it is picked while yet hard and green, and ripens up in transit or 
after reaching market. Those who have eaten only such fruit have 
not the slightest conception of what the finer varieties, ripened 
on the plants, taste like. A well ripened specimen of the Egyptian 
Queen, Sugar Loaf or Porto Rico varieties will scent a whole field, 
and in flavor will bear out ihe assertion made by Jean de Lery, a 
Huguenot priest, more than three hundred years ago, as being of 
such excellence that the gods might luxuriate upon it, and that it 
should only be gathered by the hand of Venus. 

Although rarely more than two sorts are ever seen in Northern 
markets, there are quite a large number of varieties differing in 
points of size, appearance and flavor. The Porto Rico, a very dis 
tinct sort and the largest of all, has been grown in Florida to 
weigh as much as sixteen or eighteen pounds, and other varieties 
not infrequently attain a weight of eight or ten pounds. The flesh 
of such Pineapples melt in the mouth, there being no core nor 
strings to reject, and no sugar is needed with them. 

Pineapple plantations are abundant along the river, presenting 
every stage of growth, from the newly set plants to those bearing 
fruit, and the sight is an interesting one and would be decidedly 
nt)vel to the resident of a colder clime. A plantation is made from 
''suckers," "slips" or "crowns." Suckers are vigorous young 
plants which come up from the root of the old plant, either before 
or while it is fruiting, and they will bear fruit in from one year to 
eighteen months after setting out. Slips come from under the base 
of the "apple" — as often seen on the fruit in market — and produce 
fruit in from eighteen months to two years. The crown, which is 
the growth on the top of the "apple," will fruit in about two years. 
Only one fruit is produced by a plant, which then dies and is re- 
placed by the suckers springing from its root. Usually but one of 
these suckers is allowed to remain, the others being removed and 
set out to form individual plants. Little cultivation is given excep- 
to keep free of weeds. 




CHAPTER VIII. 
Oranges and Other Citrus Fruits. 

" The Orange flower perfumes the bower. 
Breeze, bird and flower confess the hour."— Scott. 

" Odors of Orange flower and spice 

Reached them from time to time. 
Like airs that breathe from paradise 
Upon a world of crime.''''— Longfellow. 

HERE is no product of the soil for which Florida is so 
justly noted as the Orange, and her extensive groves are 
far-famed for their thriftiness and beauty and for pro- 
ducing the most deliciously flavored Oranges which 
reach the markets of the world. There exists in the minds of the 
majority, a world of romance and poetry in connection with Orange 
growing, and there is no other one tree or fruit possessing so all-ab- 
sorbing an interest for the cultivator. It is not at all to be won 
dered at that all that is romantic or poetic in one's nature is stirred 
by this queen of fruit trees, for an Orange tree is intrinsically 
beautiful at all times. Its form of growth is symmetry perfected, 
and its crown of never fading verdure is of a dark, deep, rich green. 
If the tree never blossomed or bore fruit it would still be second in 
beauty to none; but when a sea of foamy white, deliciously fragrant 
blossoms breaks forth and bespangles every twig and leaf, like a 
fall of virgin snow, or when, later on, these flowers have been re- 
placed by globes of shining gold glenming, singly and in clusters, 
amid the dark green foliage, no more exquisitely beautiful an ob- 
ject ever gladdened mortal eyes. 

From the fact that wild or sour Orange groves and single trees 
have been discovered in Florida, many believe them a natural, spon- 
taneous production of the soil of the State. But this is a mistake, 
for nowhere is the Orange a native of the New World, and only 

3* 



where the early Spanish or Portuguese landed and penetrated into 
the countryis the Orange to be found growing wild in America. To 
the successors of Ponce de Leon, and to the French colony, mas- 
sacred by Menendez, is undoubtedly due the credit of introducing 
the Orange to the coast country of Florida, and the Indians spread 
it through the interior. 

With the exception of two or three Australian and one Japan- 
ese species, there is little doubt but the two or three parent types 
from which havesprung the different varieties of Oranges, Lemons, 
Limes, Citrons and Shaddocks, are of Asiatic origin; but the early 
history of this fruit is so buried in antiquity as to be almost com- 
pletely lost. Galessio, an earnest naturalist, was the first one to 
trace its history with any degree of authenticity. The Arabs, ac 
cording to this author, penetrating further into the interior of 
India than any foreign nation had done before, discovered the 
Orange family flourishing there, and they carried the sweet variety 
into Persia and Syria; and the bitter sort found its way into Arabia, 
Egypt, the North of Africa and Spain. From these points the fruit 
gradually spread to the various parts of the earth where it is now 
cultivated. The Orange was not known to the ancients either in 
Europe or Syria, and to the Arabians, whose anxiety, it is said, for 
the extension of medical and agricultural knowledge was almost 
equal to their zeal for the propagation of the Koran, must be 
given the credit of its introduction to the world. 

Comparatively few people are aware of the host of forms of the 
Orange family (Citrus) that exists. Some idea of the number of 
the cultivated varieties, ana the range of differences in size, form, 
color and taste of the fruits, is conveyed by the statement that in 
the '' Histoire Naturelle des Orangers," a folio work by Risso and 
Poiteau (1818,) there are no less than one hundred and nine plates. 

The Orange is noted both for its enormous bearing qualities and 
for its remarkable longevity. Wallace mentions a tree in St. 
Michael's that bore twenty thousand fruits in one crop; and in 
Florida, where the oldest trees are but the veriest babies, as it were, 
the famous "Big Tree" oftentimes has ten thousand Oranges at 
once. At Versailles a tree known as the "Grand Bourbon " is still 
growing, though planted in 1421, and the famous tree in the Con- 
Y^nt of St. Sabina, at Rome, is said to be more than six hundred 

32 



years old, while, according to the Treasury of Botany, "In Cordova, 
the noted seat of Moorish grandeur and luxury, in Spain, there are 
Orange trees still remaining which are considered to be six hund- 
red or seven hundred years old." Even in England, at Hampton 
Court, where the trees are grown under glass, there are several 
which are over three hundred years old. 

Citrus aurantium, is the type of the Sweet Orange, and from it 
have sprung an ever increasing number of more or less distinct 
varieties varying in size, appearance, flavor and time of ripening. 
The Sour and Bitter-Sweet Oranges are included under C. auran- 
tlum Bigaradia. The Sour is very sour, and makes a delicious 
ade; the Bitter-Sweet is, as its name implies, bitter and sweet com- 
bined, and is very refreshing in summer. Its flowers also furnish 
the Neroli oil, which is so delicious and costly as a perfume. C. 
aurantium nobilis furnishes the variety known variously as Man- 
darin, Tangerine (having a deep, Tomato-colored rind,) Willow- 
leaved and Kid-glove. The latter name is given because the skin is 
so loose that it may be removed and the Orange eaten without soil- 
ing one's gloves. The trees are dwarf, with small. Willow-like 
leaves, and are exceedingly ornamental. C aurantium Bergamium 
is the true Bergamot. From the rind of its fruit the fragrant Oil 
of Bergamot is obtained, and the flowers also yield oil. C. decu- 
mana is represented by the Shaddocks and Grape Fruit. The fruit 
of the former grow to an immense size, often ten to fourteen 
pounds in weight, and is watery and rather insipid in flavor. The 
Grape Fruit or Pomelo, is smaller fruited — but two or three times 
the size of an Orange — and greatly relished by all who learn how to' 
properly eat it. At present it is a much better paying crop than 
the Orange. C. medlca cedra is the Citron of commerce. In Flori- 
da it is grown only as a curiosity, despite the fact that no known 
reason exists why good citron cannot be grown and prepared here, 
and that 2,000,000 pounds of it are annually imported into the 
United States. C. medica Limetta furnishes the Limes, of which 
there are a number of varieties, and C. Livfionlum the numerous 
Lemons. C Japonica, the Kumquat or Kin Kan, is a delightful 
little dwarf sort, much cultivated in China and Japan, producing 
fruits about the size of the first joint of the thumb, which are eaten 
rind and all, and made into sweetmeats by preserving in sugar. 



C. trifoUata, native of Japan, is a very distinct sort, hardy at 
least as far north as New York City, and of great value for hedges, 
and to bud or graft and dwarf other sorts on. 

Although the oldest city in the United States is located in Flor- 
ida, it is only since the close of the civil war that the great Orange 
producing region of the State began to be settled up, and later still 
before attention was turned toward Orange growing. In 1885 the 
whole crop of the State amounted to but six hundred thousand 
boxes, while the crop of 1893 was five million boxes, and there are 
groves enough planted to produce in a few years twenty million 
boxes. Predictions of over-production in the near future are met 
by the interesting statement that the last crop would only furnish 
one Orange a month to each inhabitant of the United States, while 
a crop of twenty million boxes will furnish only one Orange a week 
to each. 

There are many erroneous impressions concerning the Orange 
and its growth prevalent among those not familiar with the sub- 
ject. One of these is that flowers and green and ripe fruit, in all 
stages of development, may be seen on an Orange tree at one and 
the same time and at almost any time of the year. Many writers 
make such statements; but they are not true, at least in Florida. 
The statement is true, however, of the Citron, Lemon and Lime, as 
they flower more or less almost every time they make a new growth, 
which is several times a year; but the Orange has a distinct season, 
February and March, of blooming, the same as the Apple, and if the 
crop has not been gathered at that season the trees will show both 
flowers and ripe fruit. If by some means the first bloom is wholly 
or partially destroyed, the tree will generally bloom again in June, 
and if it so chanced that the same tree bloomed the preceding June, 
It will present flowers and ripe and green fruit, but not otherwise. 
Another is that the Orange will not bear until budded or grafted. 
Probably at least two-thirds of the bearing groves in the State are 
seedlings. Budding insures earlier bearing and perpetuates dis- 
tinct varieties. 




CHAPTER IX. 

St. Augustine and the Gardens of the Ponce de Leon. 

LTHOUGH the developments of the State of Florida date 
almost entirely from since the close of the Civil War, 
still it contains the oldest city— St. Augustine— by forty 
years in the United States. This city was founded by 
Pedro Menendez de Aviles, who took possession of the place in the 
name of Philip II, King of Spain, on September 8th, 1565. As he 
had arrived on the coast the 28th day of the preceding month, the 
day dedicated to Saint Augustine, he called the place Ciudad de 
San Augustine in honor of that celebrated Latin Father. 

Years ago, Harriet Beecher Stowe, in describing St. Augustine, 
wrote of it: "If an old, sleepy, narrow-streeted mediaeval town, 
with balconied houses, inner courts, and tesselated floors, had 
stranded on a beach of the New World, that town would have been 
St. Augustine." The description is still a faithful one of the an- 
cient portions of the town; but much of its quiet and sleepiness has 
vanished, for within a few years it has developed into a fashionable 
and famous winter resort. Numerous palatial hotels have sprung 
up as if by magic, together with scores of modern private winter 
residences, and the city now boasts a population of nearly ten 
thousand, with from forty to fifty thousand winter visitors. 

While at once the oldest and the newest, the two ages of its 
life blend in seemingly perfect harmony, and one may aflBliate him- 
self or herself with either or both as inclination may dictate. For 
the essentially fashionable and pleasure-seeking there is the anom- 
aly of a "season" at its height under skies as fair and amid breezes 
as balmy as those of June, while the North is clothed with a man- 
tle of ermine; and for the lover of the antique, the curious and the 
interesting, there is an exceptionally rich field for research and 
sight-seeing. The narrow streets, quaint houses, overhanging bal- 

35 



conies, ancient ruins and other cobwebs of antiquity, all remain un- 
disturbed and fascinating as ever. 

The streets in the old portions of the town are very narrow, one 
of them — Treasury Street— being but seven feet wide. The first 
story walls of many of the houses are built of coquina (a strange 
shell conglomeration) and the second of wood. The streets have no 
sidewalks, and in many instances one steps from the front door 
directly i7ito the street. Second-story balconies, overhanging the 
narrow streets, are numerous, and where two are exactly opposite 
the occupants can almost shake hands across the street. Connected 
with many of these houses are gardens of which Sidney Lanier 
gives this tantalizing glimpse: " There are quaint courts enclosed 
with jealous high coquma-walls, and giving into rich, cool gardens 
where Lemons, Oranges, Bananas, Japan Plums, Figs, Date Palms 
and all manner of tropical flowers and greeneries hide from the 
northeast winds, and sanctify the old Spanish-built homes." 

But it is the gardens of the famous Ponce de Leon Hotel which 
I particularly wish to describe. Probably every one of my readers 
has heard of this wonderful structure, the cost of which ran into 
the millions. It is unexcelled by any hotel in this country or 
Europe, and was pronounced by the Duke of Newcastle the most 
magnificent building in the world. To adequately describe it would 
be impossible, even if I had the space to command. Happily the 
style of architecture chosen was that of the Spanish Renaissance, 
so that it harmonizes perfectly with the historical associations of 
the old town, and its name was equally happily chosen, commemo- 
rating as it does the memory of the romantic old Spanish knight 
who discovered Florida. The material from which the vast edifice 
is constructed is coquina mixed with Portland cement — not put up 
in blocks but cast in cement, so that the whole structure is without 
seam. The composite is of a light mother-of-pearl color, contrast- 
ing with the rich terra-cotta balconies and trimmings of the walls, 
turrets and towers of the red-tiled roofs. 

The hotel is built around three sides of a courtyard one hun- 
dred and fifty feet square, the fourth side enclosed by a one-story 
portico through the centre of which a massive gateway gives en- 
trance to the courtyard. Inside, the latter is a scene of magic 
beauty. In the centre is an elaborate fountain, and flagged walks 

36 



winding through a maze of Palms and other tropical plants and 
fruits, lead to the hotel entrance, which is a broad Spanish arch 
worthy of a king's palace. 

Completely sheltered from the winds by the surrounding walls, 
everything in the courtyard thrives with tropical luxuriance. Sev- 
eral species of the Date Palm genus (Phoenix) are represented in 
noble specimens with spiny fronds several feet in length. To one 
side of the main walk grows a noble example of the Florida Rubber- 
tree (Ficus aurea,) twenty or more feet high, with a massive head 
of the richest green foliage. As a companion on the opposite side 
is an equally fine Araucaria of striking appearance. A specimen 
of the Palm Cocos plumosa, fifteen or twenty feet high, spreads 
out its feathered leaves like giant plumes, and lower-growing fan- 
leaved Palms are grouped effectively about. Gigantic specimens of 
the Century Plant {Agave) occupy positions calculated to best dis- 
play their perfect symmetry of growth, and great clumps of Pam- 
pas Grass stand like fountains of green ribbon-like leaves, shooting 
up feathery plumes as beautiful as silvery spray. The Australian 
Silk Oak (Grevillea rohusta) arrests attention by the exquisite sil- 
very sheen of the under side of its leaves, which are as finely cut 
and as beautiful as some of the most delicate Ferns. There are Cat- 
tley Guavas with dainty waxen fruits shining amid evergreen, 
Camellia-like foliage, and immense specimens of the strikingly 
curious and strictly tropical Melon Pawpaw (Carica papaya,) 
while Poinsettias with gleaming scarlet bracts, Russelia juncea 
fringed with its coral-drops, the Golden Dewdrop (Duranta Plu- 
mieri) displaying at one and the same time its racemes of lovely 
Forget-me-not like blossoms and clusters of beautiful golden ber- 
ries, Poinciana and Bottle Brush, with their curious and beautiful 
flowers, help make up this garden which is more Spanish than 
American. 

Beneath the shade of some of the taller-growing shrubs are 
plants of the evergreen Pittosporum tobira trained and clipped 
into the forms of chairs and settees absolutely perfect in outline 
and naturalness of position. There are also specimens of the hand- 
some variegated .form of this shrub; and scattered among and be- 
neath all these trees and shrubs are plants of more humble growth 
—clumps of Coontie (Zamia integrifolia) in fruit, Spider Lilies, 

37 



Sanseviera zealanica. Freesias, Petunias, Phlox, Sweet Alyssum, 
and many more, familiar or otherwise. 

Along the low parapet and up the columns of the verandas and 
portico facing the courtyard, are trained the Malayan Jessamine 
(Rhyncospermum Jasminoides,) Climbing Fern (Lygodium scan- 
dens) and Lan tanas (trained to climb,) while high up on the pearl- 
grey walls the South American Bignonia venusta hangs out a 
crimson banner, and at night the snowy chalices of the Moonflower 
bid the retiring guest ''Bona-nox.'' 

A lovely scene by day, at night it is one of enchantment. Then 
every leaf glistens and every shadow is accentuated beneath the 
glare of the electric lights, while from the mouths of the heroic- 
sized metal frogs and turtles grouped around the fountain basin, 
jets of sparkling water fall into the pool below, with a mellow 
cadence full of unwritten music, and flowers expand 

" That keep 

Their odors to themselves all day. 

But when the sunlight dies away. 

Let the delicious fragrance out 

To every breeze that roams about." 

The grounds surrounding the hotel are arranged and planted in 
an equally attractive manner. The walks and many of the beds are 
bordered by low and closely-clipped hedges of the Red Cedar (Juni- 
perus virginiana.) The lordly Cabbage Palm has been freely 
planted, together with large quantities of the striking appearing 
Spanish Dagger, the two lending a decidedly tropical aspect to the 
scene. There are red-barked Eucalyptus trees, Oleanders in single 
clumps and dense masses, venerable Red Cedars of uncertain age, 
and over all the sweet breath of the Opoponax {Acacia Fame- 
siana.) On the closely cropped lawns fountains send up ceaselessly 
columns of liquid silver or misty spray, while over all bends a sky 
as blue as Italy's own, and perpetual summer smiles on this garden 
of never-fading verdure. 




CHAPTER X. 
The Garden and Flowers of the Tampa Bay Hotel. 

" And the Jessamine faint, and pure Tuberose, 
The sweetest flower for scent that blows ; 
And all rare blossoms from every clime 
Make this garden the essence of love sublime !" 

HE Tampa Bay Hotel, at Tampa on the vrest coast of 
Florida, is in every way as magnificent and interesting 
as the Ponce de Leon at St. Augustine, and yet as totally 
unlike it as the imagination can picture — so much so 
that a visit to either does not render it one whit less desirable to see 
the other. But to the true flower lover — one interested in trees, 
shrubbery, vines and plant growth of all kinds— a visit to the 
Tampa Bay Hotel would be the most interesting, for the grounds 
are much more extensive than those of the Ponce de Leon, and are 
beautifully laid out and stocked with rare and beautiful plants 
from almost every known portion of the globe. A catalogue and 
manual of the tropical and semi-tropical fruit and flower plants 
growing in the hotel grounds, shows that of strictly tropical fruits, 
thirty-four distinct genera are represented, of semi-tropical fruits 
nineteen, and of ornamentals — trees, shrubs, vines, etc. — one 
hundred and sixty genera. As many of these genera are repre- 
sented by a number of species, it makes a list of considerable 
length. 

The hotel stands on a rise of ground which slopes gently down 
to the river's edge, but it is quite impossible to convey in words any 
adequate idea of how the structure looks. Standing on the bridge 
over the'river which flows between the town and the hotel grounds, 
one beholds, rising from a mass of brilliant flowering shrubbery, 
Palms and other trees, along massive pile, fashioned from brick 
and^iron, which grows to immensity as the eye travels over its out- 



lines. From its flat roofs rise numerous immense silvered domes 
and Moorish minarets topped with the goldeif star and crescent of 
the Orient, all glistening intensely in the brightness of a semi- 
tropic sun. Galleries, broad and long enough to furnish a loung- 
ing-place for quite a multitude, extend along the east and west 
fronts, the roofs starting over the third story windows, sloping 
gently to the outer edges, from which drop huge ornaments in the 
form of arched and hanging pendants ending in brackets at every 
column and the walls. 

Extending on all sides are the ample grounds where are foun- 
tains, green lawns, flowerbeds, arbors, and gardens in which flour- 
ish the flowers and fruits of the tropics in unwonted luxuriance 
and pro'digal profusion, tlie royal Rose and the poetic Jessamine 
breathing forth their rich odors in harmonious companionship with 
the brilliant but more plebian Geranium. Along the galleries rare 
and beautiful vines have woven curtains and draperies with trace- 
ries inimitable, and the green lawn is whitened by the falling petals 
of the Camellia, the only snow that is ever seen in this fair clime. 
In the centre of the lawn, facing the river, is a miniature fort with 
mounted cannon, Prickly Pear Cactus plants straggling over the 
stone-work, and a flagstaff that floats the United States flag by day 
succeeded by a crescent of electric fire at night, and along the river 
front a winding path, shaded by Palm trees, leads to a dainty little 
boathouse where are all sorts of pleasure craft. 

Palms enter largely into the ornamentation of the grounds, 
particularly the native Cabbage Palm or Palmetto, which has been 
set out in large numbers and forms a very striking feature in the 
surroundings. There are walks wholly bordered on both sides with 
perfect specimens fifteen to twenty feet tall, the trunks rising up 
like the pillars of some vast corridor, and groups at one of the en- 
trance gates containing specimens fifty to sixty feet tall and which 
it required the combined efforts of twelve men to transplant from 
their native woods. There are Cocoanut Palms, small yet, but ex- 
ceedingly beautiful, and various species of the Date Palm genus 
(Phoenix.) One of the most striking objects is a large circular bed 
with a Date Palm in the centre and the balance filled with Poin- 
settia pulcherrima. The bluish-green pinnate leaves of the Palm, 
rising up from and arching over the large terminal bracts of fiery 



scarlet leaves of the Poinsettia forms a marvelous picture during 
the winter months. The Spanish Dagger or Bayonet (Yucca aloi- 
folia) is another native plant which has been liberally utilized, es- 
pecially along the river front, and with a striking effect. 

In front of one of the galleries an enormous Live Oak spreads 
afar its giant arms, and in addition to the lovely silvery-grey Span- 
ish Moss which hangs in banners and streamers from its venerable 
head, various Air Plants (Tlllandsias) and Orchids have been at- 
tached to the limbs and become established. Not far from this Oak 
is a spring from which a little rill courses through the grounds to 
the river. The rill banks are clothed with a natural growth of 
Ferns, Wax Myrtles, Saw Palms, etc., and in addition to these have 
been added Spanish Dagger, Bananas, Cannas, Caladiums, Butter- 
fly Lily (Hcdychium, coronarium) and other moisture-loving plants, 
forming a real tropical jungle along and through which a path 
winds and crosses. The native Swamp Fern (Acrostichum aureum) 
is a striking feature in this jungle, and would astonish northern 
eyes. It is very stately and showy, with large thick fronds six or 
seven feet in height. Close by is a clump of Bambusa vulgaris, the 
large unarmed Bamboo of Bengal, towering, like some monster 
Fern, fifty feet in the air. Every cane with its foliage is like an 
immense ostrich plume, bending and swaying gracefully in the 
passing breeze or raging storm. 

On the lawn are large Orange trees clothed in emerald green 
and ornamented with golden globes of lusciousness, bowers enclos- 
ing seats and covered with running Roses, Chinese Hibiscus and 
Poincianas a blaze of flowers, and numerous other shrubs and trees, 
including Poinsettias, Camellias, the magnificent Royal Poinciana, 
Roses, Jessamines, Agaves, Rubber-Tree, Acalyphas, Oleanders, 
Pampas Grass and many more; and in the parterre in winter, may 
be seen blooming Pinks, in variety, Ageratum, Zinnias, Sweet Alys- 
sum, Vincas, Phlox Drummondi, Petunias, Pansies, Geraniums, 
Balsams, Nasturtiums and other favorite garden flowers. Along 
the main walk the name of the hotel is cut out of the sod of the 
lawn in large letters, and filled in with flowering plants; and on 
each side of the steps leading to the main entrance, is growing a 
fine specimen of the beautiful Australian Silk Oak. 

But the floral display of this famous hostelry is not confined 

4» 



to the outside. Ascend the broad steps, pass through the mas- 
sive entrance doors which are ot Spanish Mahogany, highly pol- 
ished and encasing heavy plates of beveled glass, into the rotunda, 
and a scene of beauty and richness is revealed. It is a grand as- 
sembly hall seventy-eight feet square and thirty feet from the floor 
to the ceiling. Thirteen marble columns support a balcony that 
looks over from the second floor, and grouped about these, in 
costly jardinieres, are rare and beautiful foliage plants. There are 
majestic Palms, their feathery fronds arching overhead, gorgeous- 
leaved Crotons whose tints would put to shame the autumn color- 
ings of northern forests, filmy Ferns and stately Dragon-trees, 
among the latter a specimen of Draccena fragrans eight or nine 
feet tall, and having perfect leaves from the soil up. 

A grand hallway extends from north to south no less than 
seven hundred feet, passing through the rotunda. Wandering 
down this hallway one finally comes to the gracefully rounding 
curve of the solarium leading to the grand dining hall. Here— in 
the solarium— another delightful scene is revealed. A fiood of soft 
light falls through scores of windows on either hand, and in front 
of every window is either an antique and curious little table or an 
equally curious old chair, holding a jardiniere containing a beauti- 
ful fiowering or foliage plant. Among them are exquisite Ferns, 
vari-colored Crotons, Eucharis with snowy chalices, Araucarias, 
Coleus, Salvias and Sansevieras. At intervals are bays and groups 
of slender columns supporting the roof, and about these are massed 
Palms and gorgeous foliage plants, forming fairy-like bowers and 
charming nooks in which to linger, to rest or read or enjoy an unin- 
terrupted iete-a-tete. 

In the furnishings of the hotel, antique, curious and historical 
furniture, rare old cabinets, costly brica-brac and beautiful etch- 
ings and paintings enter largely— the tout ensemble iorming a truly 
Alhambric picture in the most romantic section of prosaic America. 




CHAPTER XI. 
Where May and December are Wed. 

" There are flowers, flowers, flowers. 

Blooming in our woods to-day. 
In our Florida December 

As they bloom in Northern May; 
Red for love of a true brother. 

White for lives unstained and true. 
Blue, true hearts to one another — 

Nation's hues. Red, White and Blue." —Anna Perkins. 

URINGr the vrinter months there are less wild flowers to 
be seen in Florida than in other seasons of the year, but 
the true flower lover returning from a stroll through 
the dry Pines woods, a trip around the lake shores and 
creek banks or a walk in the densely shaded "hammocks," may 
bring back a respectable sized bouquet made up of a considerable 
number of distinct varieties and species of these wildlings. 

Carping critics often cast a slur upon the flowery title of the 
State and spurn its claim of being "the Land of Flowers." It is 
true that the State presents no such wide reaches, vast masses and 
great profusion of brilliant colored flowers as are seen on the Texas 
prairies and in some portions of California, where often acres upon 
acres are thickly covered with one species of flower until the eye 
becomes almost wearied with their brilliancy, and prodigality be- 
gets indifference. One of the chief charms of the woodland beauties 
of our Northern States, is their comparative rarity, and it is much 
the same in this State with the majority of our wildlings. A 
hurried tour through Florida by boat and rail, especially in winter, 
will give but a very limited idea of the rich flora and semi-tropical 
vegetation to be found in the various portions of so extended a 
country as this. 

There are doubtless less wild flowers here in December than 
any other month, yet the words of the verse at the head of this 
chapter are literally true, as I shall endeavor to show; and I think 
a bouquet may be easily arranged which, in beauty and variety, 
will rival the best productions of a Northern May. 

43 



Of Violets there are four distinct species, blooming not only in 
December, but through all the winter months. Viola palmata is 
a beautiful large blue or purple Violet often found growing in 
high, dry Pine woods, but more often on ground ranging between 
the high and low. The common blue Violet (V. cucullata,) so uni- 
versal in the North, is common in "hammock" lands, while V. 
lancGolata and V. primulcefolia, two white species, are often found 
growing together and very abundant near streams, lakes or ponds. 
A peculiarity of the Violets is that they blossom during the warm 
season without showing any colored petals, but have a green calyx, 
with stamen and pistils, and perfect their seeds. 

Another flower which is produced throughout the winter 
months is Oldenlandia rotundifoUa, a Southern cousin of the 
dainty Northern Bluet or Innocence. It has trailing stems, with 
small roundish leaves, spreading over the ground like a mat and 
producing a great many delicate, pure white flowers, with four 
petals forming a cross about half an inch in diameter. It, too, lays 
aside its white petals during the w^arm season, producing only 
inconspicuous green flowers, with the seed capsules mostly under 
the leaves. The dwarf Butterwort {Pingulcula pumila) appears 
early in December and is abundant all winter. Its flowers vary 
from purple to nearly white, from one-half to three-quarters of an 
inch in diameter, and borne on a scape three to six inches high, 
ascending from a cluster of leaves. The lower lobe of the corolla 
has a Violet-like spur near its base. It is abundant in the grass 
of low Pine woods, especially near streams or ponds. P. elatior is a 
large purple species, flowers an inch wide, borne on scapes eight to 
twelve inches high. Still more beautiful is P. lutea. This is some- 
times called Alligator Lettuce, and the curious tuft of yellow-green 
leaves resembles some sorts of Lettuce. From the centre shoot up 
slender scapes six to twelve inches high, each bearing a flower one 
to one and one-half inches wide, gleaming like burnished gold. 

That strange, almost uncanny plant commonly known as In- 
dian-pipe {MonotTOipa uniflora,) which at the North blooms in 
August or September, flowers here in November and December. It 
is quite common in the "hammocks," growing (parasitically) on 
roots or decaying vegetable matter. It grows generally in clusters, 
several stems near together and six to ten inches high. The whole 



plant, stems, leaves and flowers, is pure white or pinkish, semi- 
transparent and fragile appearing, like some species of the Mush- 
room family. The straight stem bears scale-like leaves and is sur- 
mounted by a drooping pipe-like head which is a regular flower 
with calyx, corolla, stamens, pistils and numerous seeds. As the 
plant becomes older the head rises erect and the whole plant turns 
black. Near streams and ponds yellow Coreopsis and the blue Lo- 
belia glandulosa are occasionally found during most of the winter, 
and Chrysopsis and Hieraciums often linger on the uplands till 
after the new year commences. 

At this season it is sometimes hard distinguishing which be- 
longs to the old year and which to the new. Our lovely Yellow 
Jessamine (Oelsemlum sempervirens,) which is in the full splen- 
dor of its "golden glory" in the month of February, I have found 
expanding some of its flowers as early as the eighth of December; 
but the winter was an unusually warm one. If there has been no 
untimely frost, a moonlight night or the early morning hours will 
reveal the curtains of vines, which are looped from tree to tree and 
bush to bush along the river and lake banks, bespangled with the 
snowy chalices of the Moonflower (Ipomcea Bona-nox.) Just now, 
too, the Mistletoe is in full perfection, its milky-white, pearl-like 
berries gleaming amidst its peculiar yellowish-green foliage; and 
the coral beads of the Holly burn like fire in their setting of deep- 
est, darkest green, spiny leaves. Last December a botanist corres- 
pondent, residing in another portion of the State, observed, besides 
those I have named, twenty-six other distinct species of wild flow- 
ers in bloom. This is certainly a very respectable showing for the 
month when there is the greatest dearth of flowers everywhere. 

Poets are inspired by their surroundings, and the songs they 
sing are attuned in harmony with what they themselves have seen 
and know of nature. Therefore northern poets sing of springtime 
as the season of flowers, of hope and promise, and of the autumn 
as the season of the sere and yellow leaf. A gifted writer iu this 
State has said that had Bryant been born and lived in Florida in- 
stead of Massachusetts, he would never have said of autumn: 

" The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year. 
Of wailing winds and naked woods and meadows brown and sere." 

43 



And that had Thomas Hood been born and lived In Florida instead 
of the British Isles, he would never have moaned of November like 
this: 

" No sun, no moon, no morn, no noon. 
No dawn, no dusk, no proper time of day." 

"When we raise a crop of Florida poets," says the same writer, 
"their songs of autumn will be songs of joy." 

That future " crop of poets" will not have to depend upon the 
wild woods alone for inspiration at this season of the year-, for 
many of the most desirable garden flowers, ornamental trees, 
shrubs and vines now make a grand show of blossoms and foliage. 
Tecoma sta7is is in the very zenith of its glory during the first half 
of December, there are Roses in profusion and perfection, Lantanas 
and Chinese Hibiscus striving to outdo each other, Oleanders that 
rival the Roses in form and color, and Jessamines and Honey- 
suckles shedding their sweetness abroad in the garden. 

I feel that I cannot draw this chapter to a close in a more fitting 
manner than by quoting the following lines written by a Northern 
lady while spending her first winter in Florida, and by heartily 
secondiug the invitation voiced in the closing stanza: 

" Fair Florida ! in Flora's bowers 

Vine covered, bell-like blossoms swing; 
Sweet is the air with myriad flowers. 
Sweet is the song the mock-birds sing. 

" Your graceful Palms wave in the air, 
Flame-tipt your Lilies rare unfold. 
Your luscious fruits hang tempting, fair, 
Sun-lit your globes of orange gold. 

" Bananas stately bow their heads 
To offer fruits without compare; 
Pineapples from their spiny beds 
Lift nectar that the gods might share. 

" Come from your northern cities grand. 
Leave care behind to rest awhile. 
To dream of heaven in this fair land 
And bask m nature's loving smile." 




CHAPTER XII. 
Living and Locating in Florida, 

Who that hath reason and his smell, 
Would not midst Rose and Jasmine dwell; 
Encompass'd round with such delight. 
To ear, nose, touch, the taste and sight." 

—Cowley. 

HAT an eager and growing interest in the South has 
sprung up among all classes — homeseekers, capitalists, 
manufacturers, merchants and laborers — throughout 
the North is apparent to all who have watched the press, 
particularly during the past year. And no State in the whole South 
is receiving so large a share of the interest and investigations of 
earnest homeseekers as is Florida. Indeed, remarkable interest in 
this State began more than a decade ago, before attention was 
turned to hardly any other section of the South, and how rapid 
and remarkable Florida's development has been the last census re- 
turns show. 

A comparison of this State with Illinois shows the following 
startling results: Between 1880 and 1890 Florida gained in popula- 
tion 49 per cent., while Illinois gained but 24 per cent. In wealth, 
Florida gained 150 per cent., and Illinois lost 8 per cent. The per 
capita wealth of Florida increased 71 per cent. In Illinois it de- 
creased 26 per cent. In 1880 the average man in Illinois was worth 
over twice as much as the average man in Florida; but in 1890 the 
average Floridian was richer than the average Illinoisian. As far 
as per centage is concerned the population of Florida is increasing 
nearly twice as fast as any State east of the Mississippi. 

At the close of the Civil War at least nine-tenths of the area of 
Florida which is adapted to the production of Oranges and kindred 
fruits, was an unsettled, undeveloped and almost totally unknown 



wilderness, to be reached only by private conveyance. In 1885 the 
Orange crop of the State amounted to but 600,000 boxes, while the 
crop of 1894 was at least 5,000,000 boxes. Last year the Florida 
Pineapple crop amounted to from 50,000 to 60,000 crates, the year 
before that only 35,000 crates, and in 1892 only 20,000 crates. In one 
year alone the value of the Pineapple crop increased from $147,000 to 
$600,000. And Spruce-Pine land, on the Indian River, nearly value- 
less for other purposes than Pineapple growing, which in 1880 
could be bought for $1.25 per acre, now commands from $125 to $300, 
or more, per acre. The development in truck-gardening has been 
equally great, the growing of Tomatoes alone for Northern markets 
having assumed tremendous proportions. The production of To- 
bacco is a lusty "infant industry" which shows every indication of 
developing gigantic proportions; the discovery of phosphate opened 
up a mine of untold wealth to the State, while the fish, oyster, tur- 
tle and sponge industries of the Florida east and west coast an- 
nually amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and are yet 
in their infancy. 

As a great natural sanitarium alone, Florida's importance can- 
not be overestimated, for it is truly 

" The land of the south wind, whose sweet-scented breath 
Bears freely to thousands long respites from death. " 

Consumption — a disease more deadly than cholera, typhus, 
smallpox and yellow fever combined — kills 100,000 persons every 
year in the United States, and it is safe to say that of these at least 
two-thirds would live out natural lives if they came to this 
State early enough and remained the year around. But too often 
the coming is put off until too late, being finally embraqed as a last 
resort, and in a good many instances life has been lengthened sev- 
eral years when to have remained at the North would have meant 
certain death within six months. But this matchless climate 
cannot make new lungs where none exist, nor build up depleted 
systems in which all recuperative powers are forever deadened. 

But, despite the fact that so many incurables come here to 
die, statistics prove that the death rate in Florida is lower, 
according to population, than in any other State in the Union. It 
is amusing to have residents of New England anxiously inquire 

48 



if Florida isn't dreadfully sickly and the climate fatal, when 
we find, by turning to the census of 1890, that the death rate 
for Florida during that year was only 10.60 per thousand, while 
that of Massachusetts was 20.15, about twice as high. Of the 
maladies indigenous to the State, nearly all are of malarial 
origin, and of those the types are exceedingly mild and easily 
subdued, the pernicious and malignant cases being exceptional 
and usually easy to trace to a sufficient and preventable cause. 
Wherever cistern, instead of well, water is used, all mala- 
rial tendencies disappear if the location is otherwise healthy. So 
far as fevers are concerned, during the census year of 1890, only 460 
people died from fever of all kinds in the State. To offset this, the 
climate is finely adapted to the curing of a number of diseases, par- 
ticularly those of the nasal cavities, the throat, lungs and heart, 
also kidney and rheumatic afflictions. 

As for children, from babies up, it is a perfect paradise. There 
is scarcely a day in the whole year when they may not be in the 
open air, and very rarely are troubled with colds or coughs. 
Measles, chicken pox and whooping cough are modified to a degree 
that renders them quite harmless when they do appear, which is 
very seldom, while those dread diseases of childhood, diphtheria, 
scarlet fever and croup, are happily unknown. At least one physi- 
cian has made the prediction that Florida will become a place of 
refuge to which parents will bring their children i7i the summer to 
escape the dangers of cholera infantum, and his opinion is backed 
up by statistics that none can question. The census of 1890 shows 
that in proportion to population the mortality among children is 
26 per cent, higher in Ohio, 40 per cent, higher in Pennsylvania, 60 
per cent, higher in Illinois, and more than twice as high in New 
York as in Florida. The climate is equally conducive to longevity 
among the old, owing to its mildness and equability, which admits 
of living so much in the open air, and the serenity of a life free from 
deleterious excitements. 

Life in Florida is unconventional to a degree, and its placidity 
and freedom thoroughly takes possession of nearly everyone who 
lives in the State any length of time. The piazza is the sitting- 
room — and with many families the dining-room also — fully three- 
fourths of the year, Windows and doors are almost constantly 



open, admitting the health-giving air, as it is swept throught the 
balsamic Pine forests. Few who leave the State are able to re- 
main away permanently, but eventually wander back. There is a 
charm or a magic in the atmosphere which is well-nigh irresist- 
ible, and once felt is never forgotten. 

But I would not be understood as conveying the idea that 
Florida does not possess drawbacks and disadvantages, for it does. 
There is no Eden in this world, and the inhabitants of Florida have 
obstacles to meet and surmount. But to those who wish to 
make permanent, prosperous homes, I sincerely believe Florida 
offers greater inducements and less serious obstacles than any State 
in the Union. Nowhere else can living expenses be reduced to so 
low a minimum, the soil responds generously to the earnest atten- 
tion of the husbandman, and the most humble, if industrious, may 
exclaim with the poet: 

" That hut is mine; that cottage half embower'd 
With modest Jessamine." 

Locating in Florida is a matter of serious importance, and on 
which success or failure may entirely depend. A volume could be 
written on the subject and yet it may all be expressed in a few 
words. Select a healthy locality, fertile soil, as good frost protec- 
tion as possible, and close proximity to transportation. On the first 
three points, a person not familiar with the peculiar indications of 
the State, may be "roped in" by unprincipled parties. Speaking 
from the experience of several years' residence in the State and ex- 
tensive travel over it, I would not locate near large rivers, on 
account of the swamps bordering most of them; I would not locate 
on either coast, for the soil is mostly very poor, at certain seasons 
the sea winds are high, constant and very disagreeable, and at times 
the mosquitoes and sand flies are voracious and "numberless as 
the sands of the seashore" ; I would not locate anywhere in the per- 
fectly level sections of the State, because I should expect the monot- 
onous outlook to kill me; but 1 would locate on high, rolling land 
some miles from the coast, not over two miles from a railroad 
having good connections North and South and to the coast. In 
short, if I had it to do over again, I would locate just where I am. 



50 




JESSAMINE, PASCO COUNTY, FLORIDA. 

ITS LOCATION, AND SOME OF THE ATTRACTIONS AND ADVANTAGES 
OF THE REGION FOR INTENDING SETTLERS. 

ASCO is one of the Gulf Counties of South Fiorida, i. e., 
its western boundary is the Gulf of Mexico. Hernando 
county bounds it on the north and Hillsborough county 
on the South. Jessamine is situated in the midst of 
what is known as the Fort Dade country, a section embracing an 
area of some ten or twelve miles square in the eastern portion of 
the county. The topography of this region is greatly diversified, 
being entirely different from that of almost all other parts of South 
Florida. It is a country abounding in high hills, rolling lands, 
bubbling springs, crystal lakes and running brooks. The eye is not 
wearied by monotonous stretches of low lands covered with nothing 
but interminable pine forests, and to the flat portions of the State, 
where deep and glaring sand seriously interferes with pedestrian 
exercise, and makes driving a task instead of a pleasure, the noble 
hills crowned with giant trees clad in richest verdure, and the firm, 
hard roads of this region form a welcome and pleasant contrast. 
People from hilly or mountainous regions of the North are often 
rendered homesick and disheartened by the "flat as a pancake" 
localities of the State, but invariably go into raptures over the pine 
and oak clad hills and fertile valleys of this section. Visitors from 
the central and eastern parts of the State cannot get over their 
astonishment that such a unique and beautiful region exists in the 
State, while other residents who have not seen for themselves refuse 
to believe that we have hills 200 and 300 feet in elevation, and crys- 
tal springs breaking out of steep hillsides, and escaping in singing 
brooks which go flashing and sparkling over miniature cascades 
and through edying pools, along ravines and glens of the most 
romantic beauty, rich with growths of semi-tropical verdure. 



One of the most important advantages of this region is the char- 
acter of the most of the soil, which is not only among the most fer- 
tile in the State, but of a distinct character for South Florida, be- 
ing equally adapted for both fruit raising and general farming. 
In some sections of the State little besides Oranges can be raised, 
and in others nothing but Pineapples; but in this section one can 
easily make a good living by general farming, while he is bringing 
his grove into bearing, an advantage of incalculable value which 
should not be overlooked. Rye, Oats, Corn, Rice, Sea Island Cot- 
ton, Peanuts, Tobacco, Irish and Sweet Potatoes, Sugar Cane, Ar- 
row-Root, Chufas, Cassava, Indigo, Castor Beans, Cow Peas, Millet, 
Teosinte and other forage, and nearly the entire list of vegetables 
and various other products, may be successfully grown here, and 
by the use of less fertilizer than would be required in ninety-nine 
one-hundredths of the remainder of South Florida. 

No other section of the State offers greater, and few equal, ad- 
vantages for the culture of Oranges and other Citrus fruits (Lem- 
ons, Limes, Citrons, Shaddocks and Grape Fruit or Pomelo.) And 
nowhere in the State can groves be brought into bearing at less ex- 
pense for fertilizing. Some of the few early settlers of this section 
selected choice bodies of land on which they reared the finest 
Orange groves to full bearing without the application of a particle 
of fertilizer, a fact totally discredited by the majority of the inhab- 
itants of Florida. Some of these trees are forty and fifty years old, 
and yearly increase in bearing surface and productiveness. Other 
fruits which may be successfully raised here are Bananas, Pineap- 
ples, (under a simple brush shelter,) Guavas, (both the common and 
Cattley varieties,) Figs, Mulberries, Plums, (native and Japanese,) 
Peaches, LeConte and Keiffer Pears, Pomegranates, Grapes, Loquat 
or Japan Medlar, {Eriobotrya Japonica,) Cayenne or Surinam 
Cherry, (Eugenia Mitchelli,) Downy Myrtle. (Myrtus tomentosa,) 
Japan and native Persimmons, Dates, Avocado or Alligator Pear, 
{Persea gratissima,) Pecans, Japan Giant Chestnuts, Olives and 
Strawberries. Many of the strictly tropical fruits may also be suc- 
cessfully raised if one will go to the slight trouble of protecting 
them against occasional frosts which are mostly of a light nature. 

One of the most important considerations when locating in 
Florida, is immunity from frequent and disastrous frosts. The so- 



called "frost-line" is a myth, which exists only in the vocabulary 
of the wily land agent. There is no habitable portion of the main- 
land of Florida which is not visited by frost at intervals of greater 
or less duration; but there are favored localities, where, for some 
natural reason — water protection or elevation — immunity from 
damaging frost exists to a marked degree. And this is such a local- 
ity, owing to its remarkable elevation. It lies just below latitude 
28M degrees, being farther south than Sanford and Orlando (Orange 
county,) and Is the highest land on this parallel and gets the full 
benefit of the Gulf and Ocean breezes crossing from west to east 
and east to west. It is in reality an area of high table land and 
hills, from which the water flows in nearly all directions. Owing 
to this high elevation and the warm character of the soil, frost 
of a serious nature rarely falls here. Often a sharp frost visits the 
lower lying lands in the same parallel in the central and eastern 
parts of the State, when none whatever is seen here; and also on 
numerous occasions frost has done serious damage fifty, one hun- 
dred, and even one hundred and fifty miles farther south, but little 
or none here— all owing to elevation. When a serious freeze (the 
tail-end of a Dakota blizzard,) like that of '86, or December 29, 18f)4, 
comes, these favored localities suffer too, though in a less degree. 

Another, and even more important consideration, is that of 
healthfulness. There is not a healthier location in the State than 
this one. The reasons for this are simple. The elevation is so great 
that it may reasonably be said to be above the malarial line. Then 
there are no swamps, Cypress ponds or sluggish rivers with 
swampy banks to breed miasma. Instead, the face of the country 
is made up of high hills and beautifully rolling lands of a sandy, 
porous nature, with clear, crystal lakes smiling in the valleys. The 
excellent character of the well water is undoubtedly a potent fac- 
tor in the healthfulness of this section. The water is clear, pure 
and delightful, compared with that of most sections of the State. 
But it is doubtless better to use cistern water everywhere in the 
South. It is now generally admitted that malarial trouble arises 
more from water drank than from the miasmatic exhalations in- 
haled. Exceptionally sickly localities in the South have speedily 
become exceptionally healthy when spring and well water has been 
discarded for cistern or artesian. A physician who has resided 

S3 



here for over forty years — engaged in Orange culture — has pub- 
lished a certificate that this region may be said to be almost per- 
fectly free from malaria. Throat and lung complaints and all 
specific contagious diseases are unknown, as also are chills and 
fever. In this climate the liver Is apt to become sluggish at times, 
resulting in biliousness, which, however, is easily prevented or 
controlled. This is actually almost the only form of sickness to 
contend with here. The children here furnish all the proof neces- 
sary to establish the healthfulness of this locality. They are 
bright, active, strong and healthy, go bare-footed — and manj' of 
them bare-headed — almost every day in the year, coming as near 
to raising themselves as is possible anywhere. 

Still another consideration, and one not suflQciently pondered 
or understood by the majority of Northerners, and which we have not 
the space to fully explain, is the very small number of negroes to 
be found not only in this immediate locality, but in the entire 
county and surrounding country. What few there are here are 
mostly of superior character and well behaved, the majority of 
them owning farms and some of them Orange groves. The race 
problem is a serious one— ^oiy serious is known only to those who 
live in sections of the South where the colored people swarm. 

In addition to this being a peculiarly favored section for the 
prosecution of both agriculture and horticulture, stock does excep- 
tionally well for Florida. Actual experiments have proved that 
fine pastures may be made here, and, in consequence, plenty of rich 
milk and butter produced. As for poultry, there is no spot on the 
face of the earth where hens, chickens, turkeys and ducks may be 
more easily and successfully reared. A certain little woman at our 
elbow points with pardonable pride to her record of one year, which 
is 100 chickens raised out of 102 hatched. 

To sum up, this section possesses the combined advantages of 
beautiful and diversified scenery, rich and fertile soil adapted to 
both agriculture and horticulture, elevation, which is the surest 
protection for crops against cold, healthfulness, good water and 
freedom from an objectionable class of people. More than ten 
years ago the State Bureau of Immigration said of this section that 
no other in the State "offers greater attraction or variety for a res- 
idence or advantages for the successful prosecution of agriculture 



and horticulture," and that "transportation, enterprise, industry 
and immigration will soon make it one of the wealthiest, most 
prosperous and desirable portions of the State." When that was 
written there was no means of reaching this section except by pri- 
vate conveyance. Now it may be entered over the lines of three 
railroads. Many settlers have come in and located after viewing its 
superior advantages; but it has never been advertised, capital has 
not yet found it out, and consequently the most peerless section of 
the State for permanent homes remains comparatively unknown. 
Had it received one-quarter of the advertising which the Indian 
River and some other sections of the State have, it would to-day be 
entirely settled up with a happy, prosperous people. We have been 
in nearly every part of the State, but have yet to see a section 
which, in our honest estimation, combines so many attractions and 
advantages as this. 

Jessamine and its Location. 

As has already been stated, Jessamine is in the midst of this 
pre-eminently desirable section of Florida. Its location is an ex- 
ceptionally beautiful and advantageous one for a colony or settle- 
ment. Mirror Lake, an almost circular sheet of water of mirror- 
like beauty, and about one hundred acres in extent, forms its "cen- 
tre." From the shores the land rises beautifully, up through rich 
hammock to pine land until, at a distance of from 60 to 80 rods 
from the lake shores, it ends in an undulating plateau elevated from 
70 to 125 feet higher than the waters of the lake. A street run 
around the lake on the brow of this encircling plateau would be 
about three miles in extent, and from almost every rod of its length 
the surface of the lake could be seen flashing far below. If houses 
were built on every acre bordering this street, almost every house 
could be seen from all the others. This conveys an idea of how 
sightly the situation is, and how elevated the land is above the sur- 
face of the lake. It is in reality a vast natural amphitheatre, the 
lake forming the "pit," the sides of which only need the hand of man 
to be transformed into smiling fruit orchards and luxuriant truck 
patches. And there are thousands of surrounding acres adapted 
for the same purposes. 

55 j , , 



All about here are locations where the most beautiful homes 
imaginable may be made. Close by is another and larger lake 
which may be sufficiently lowered, at a trifling expense, to reclaim 
many acres of deep, pure muck of inexhaustible fertility— muck 
which produces such Sugar Cane as the Louisiana planters never 
dreamed of. Land is still cheap and may be purchased at ridicu- 
lously low figures in comparison with prices for poorer lands in 
other portions of the State. There is no better location than this 
for some capitalist or company of capitalists to invest in and open 
up to settlers. 

Jessamine— ?-y/iic^ should not he confounded with a little sta- 
tion of the same name on the South Florida Railroad, in Orange 
County— is a money order post office and express office, and has 
mail service twice a day. It is located one and one-half miles from 
Chipco station on the Sanford & St. Petersburg Railroad. It is 
only one mile to the nearest point on the railroad, where a depot 
will be built and named Jessamine. A. wire will also eventually be 
run to Jessamine proper, giving telegraphic communication. Two 
saw mills— one a mile and the other a mile and a half distant— fur- 
nish both rough and dressed lumber at lowest prices. School three- 
quarters of a mile distant. 

Dade City, the county seat, is six and one-half miles distant, 
located on two railroads— the Florida Central and Peninsular, the 
great trunk line of the State, and the South Florida Branch of the 
Savannah, Florida and Western Railroad. Dade City boasts sev- 
eral stores, a flourishing bank, court house, jail, a fine graded 
school and churches. 

The Sanford and St. Petersburg Railroad (formerly known as 
the Orange Belt,) gives the Jessamine region an outlet north and 
south. It is about 150 miles in length, Sanford on the St. John's 
River being its northern terminus, and St. Petersburg, on the Gulf 
coast, its southern, while Jessamine is almost exactly half way be- 
tween these termini. No other road in the State makes so many 
connections with other roads and steamer lines, giving exceptional 
facilities for reaching any section of the State. At Sanford con- 
nections are made with the Clyde's St. John's River steamers, the 
J. T. & K. W. R'y, and the South Florida R'y; at Paola with the 
Tavares branch of the J. T. & K. W. R'y; at two points with the 

56 



Florida Midland R'y; at Toronto with a branch of the F. C. & P. 
R'y; at two points with the Tavares &Gulf R'y; at Lacoochee, nine 
miles from Jessamine, with the main line of the Florida Central & 
Peninsular R'y; at Macon, eight miles from Jessamine, with the 
South Florida Branch of the S. F. & W. R'y (also a through line to 
the North,) and at St. Petersburg with steamers for Tampa, Port 
Tampa, Manatee River points, Key West, Havana, Mobile and New 
Orleans. 

At Sanford, St. Petersburg and at Tarpon Springs (about half 
way between Jessamine and St. Petersburg,) are ice factories, which 
insures getting the luxury of ice at lowest rates because of compe- 
tition. Delicious fish and oysters are cheaply obtained from St. 
Petersburg and other Gulf stations along the S. & St. P. Railway. 
These are luxuries more or less unknown to most interior points, 
from lack of railway connection. 

From Jessamine to the Gulf of Mexico is about twenty-six 
miles in an air line, just far enough away to rob the sea winds of 
their harshness and to impregnate them with the resinous exhala- 
tions of the intervening Piue forests — just far enough away to miss 
all the disagreeable features of the coast, which are rife at certain 
seasons, and yet near enough to visit it in its delightful moods, for 
rest and recreation. 

One of Jessamine's most valued blessings is remarkable and al- 
most complete immunity from mosquitoes. We never see one in 
the daytime, and often not a hundred during a whole season. When 
there are any nights, they do not swarm, but appear singly or iu 
twos or threes, and screens will keep them out as at the North. 
They never interfere with sitting on the piazza nights throughout 
the summer. This is in marked contrast to many sections of tbe 
State where Cypress swamps, shallow ponds and ditches offer con- 
venient breeding places, and on the coast at certain seasons of the 
year they are simply terrific. Neither do we have sanu flies, which 
are another coast pest at certain seasons. 

There are no negroes nearer than three miles away, where there 
is a small settlement of colored people who own their homes and 
are perfectly peaceable. Not too far away to employ them as 
laborers, but far enough to escape all the objectionable features 
connected with them as a people. 



Owing to the exceptional elevation and consequent purity of 
air, no better site for a sanitarium can be found than right here. 
Such an establishment could be much more economically built and 
conducted here than in any of the Florida cities, and naturally 
would be sought by those in search of health and rest instead of 
social excitement. A small hotel or boarding house would doubt- 
less do exceedingly well if properly managed and advertised, for 
thousands yearly visit the State who cannot afford to pay the exor- 
bitant rates charged for board in the cities and large villages, and 
are looking for some such quiet retreat. 

Those looking for locations for quiet winter, or all the year 
around, homes, will do well to investigate our claims for this par- 
ticular location. Persons in the North earning salaries above 
actual living expenses, can buy some land here cheap, have it 
cleared and planted to Oranges, etc., and cared for each year at 
moderate expense, and not move here until the trees are in bearing, 
or nearly so. This is much the best plan for those who haven't 
enough capital to warrant coming and making groves themselves. 
It is really the most economical and easiest plan in many cases. As 
in all new and as yet thinly populated countries, the demand for 
laborers is limited and confined largely to manual work on farms 
and in Orange groves. 

As stated on page 56, there is no better location in the State 
than this for some capitalist or company of capitalists to invest in 
and open up to settlers. As a site for a model community, it is an 
exceptional one. Nature has done more than her share, and man 
can easily do the rest. 

The undersigned stand ready to give any information in their 
possession, or to lend any assistance possible to anyone who maybe 
interested in this location as a place of residence or investment in 
any way. 

Pike & Ellsworth, 

Jessamine, 

Pasco Co., 
Florida. 




Photographs of Florida Flowers, Fruits and Scenes. 

HILE vivid and truthful descriptions give a more or less 
real conception of the subjects under consideration, 
when excellent photographs are combined with the de- 
scriptions, a more full and certain knowledge is ob- 
tained than is possible in any other way except by a visit to and 
a personal inspection of the scenes depicted. All who are in any 
way interested in Florida will find in good photographs valuable 
assistance in forming a correct idea of the scenery and products of 
the State. In the past we have received frequent inquiries for 
Florida views, and to supply this demand we have employed the 
services of one of the finest artists in the South, to prepare a series 
of photos of the most characteristic representatives of Florida 
flowers, fruits and scenery. These pictures are thoroughly first- 
class in every respect, representing the highest degree of photo- 
graphic art. They are the large Boudoir size, mounted on heavy 
panel cards, gold-edged, with the title printed underneath. Many 
of them are exquisite subjects for artists to paint from, while all 
are invaluable in forming an album of Florida views. 

Prices, postpaid, 25 cents each; 6 for $1.35; or 12 for $2.60. 



No. 1. "ViNECLAD, " Jessamine 
Gardens, Fla.— The first build- 
ing—a cottage— erected at Jessa- 
mine. Complet ely embowered in 
vines and has been pronounced 
"a veritable artist's dream." A 
picture which delights everyone. 

No. 2. One of the Approaches 
TO Jessamine Gardens.— An en- 
chanting bit of forest road, lined 
with exceptionally fine specimens 
of the Saw Palm or Palmetto. 
Very tropical appearing. 

No. 3. Mirror Lake, Jessamine, 
Fla.— Showing a charming view 
of one end of the lake on which 
Jessamine Gardens are located. 
In the foreground is shown part 



of a block of 30,000 Trifoliate 
Orange plants, backed by a row of 
Cannas taller than a man. 

No. 4. Gathering the Golden 
Fruit.— View in an Orange grove, 
showing the trees full of fruit and 
the pickers busy at work. A very 
characteristic and interesting 
scene. 

No. 5. A Bunch of Bananas.— A 
large clump of Banana plants, in 
a Lemon grove, from which hangs 
a bunch of fruit which a man 
standing beneath is unable to 
reach. A remarkable sight to 
Northern eyes. 

No. 6. A Young Orange Grove. 
— Shows how a young pine-land 



59 



Orange grove looks. Residence 
and lakes showing in the back- 
ground. 

No. 7. Pineapples.— Shows a field 
of Pineapples in fruit. 

No. 8. Orange Tree Bending 
Under its Fruit.— Shows a large 
Orange tree in a grove, with the 
centre of the tree parted in the 
middle and the limbs hanging 
nearly to the ground, on each side, 
under the weight of fruit. 

No. 9. A Banana Orchard. — 
Showing voung and old plants, 
the latter holding several bunches 
of fruit and towering far above 
the heads of two men standing be- 
neath. 

No. 10. View in an Orange 
Grove.— A young grove just com- 
ing into bearing. In one corner a 
beautiful young Date Palm, and 
near by the owner leaning on his 
hoe and holding two Oranges. 
Residence and Pine trees in the 
background. 

No. 11. A Florida Cabbage 
Patch.— A revelation to those 
who think Florida is all worthless 
sand. Three men stand in the 
patch, each holding two cabbages, 
and the latter pretty thoroughly 
obscure the men. Very tropical 
growth in the background. 

No. 12. A Branch of Oranges.— 
View in an Orange grove, the fore- 
ground occupied by a branch so 
laden with fruit that the lower- 
most rest on the ground. Very 
striking. 

No. 13. A Banana Bud and 
Bloom.— Shows the wonderful in- 



florescence of the Banana, and the 
tiny fruits just formed. 

No. 14. Bloom of the Spanish 
Bayonet.— Showing on a black 
background a magnificent cluster 
of the lovely creamy -white bells 
of the Spanish Bayonet (Yucca 
aloifoUa.) 

No. 1.5. The Giant Bamboo.— A 
grand clump of Bambusa vulgaris, 
the large unarmed Bamboo of 
Bengal. Resembles a gigantic 
Fern and is very striking and 
unique. 

No. 16. One of the Date Palms. 
—A view on a fine private place, 
with a good-sized Phoenix Palm 
in the foreground. 

No. 17. Pampas Grass and Cen- 
tury Plants.— An enchanting 
view on the same private place. 
Must be seen to be appreciated. 

No. 18. Cabbage Palms. — Shows 
two large-sized Cabbage Palms 
or Palmettoes, in the foreground, 
with the St. John's River in the 
middle, and a group of Palms in 
the distance. 

No. 19. A Path Through Flor- 
ida Woods.— A path through a 
very heavy piece of " hammock," 
with very large Live Oaks, hung 
with Spanish Moss, in the fore 
and back ground. It is very 
pretty. 

No. 30. A Rustic Bridge over the 
Palatlakaha River, with river 
scenery about it. An exceedingly 
beautiful scene. 

No. 31. A Tangled Mass of Vine 
AND Tree.— A very charming and 



tropical appearing bit of wood- 
land, a path disappearing under 
trees covered with interlacing 
vines. 

No. 22. An Immense Live Oak on 
St. Joseph's Island, with people 
up in the tree. An old fisherman 
lives on the island and uses the 
tree as a lookout, a series of lad- 
ders running to the top. When 
he wants to fish he goes up to the 
top of the tree with his telescope 
and looks off for a spot where the 
fish are playing and jumping in 
the water. The waters of the 
Gulf of Mexico can be seen in the 
background. 

No. 23. The Silver King or Tar- 
pon.— Shows a tarpon (fish) about 
five feet long, with a gentleman 
standing beside it. 

No. 24. A Gnarled and Twisted 
Live OAK.—Presents a most gro- 
tesque and quite indescribable ap- 
pearance. A Cabbage Palm grows 
up through the snake-like branch- 
es, which are hung with streamers 
of Spanish Moss, and small Palms 
dot the ground beneath. 

No. 25. The Festive Alligator is 
shown chasing a little "nigger" 
around a big stump. Pleases the 
children immensely. 

No. 26. The Haunted River.— A 
scene on the Palatlakaha River, 
showing a bank of wierd-looking 
Cypress trees, with their reflection 
in the water, and among these re- 
flections can be distinctly seen 
three human faces. 

No. 27. A Florida Home.— A beau- 
tiful scene, showing the house 



witji piazza completely draped 
with vines, and the path leading 
up to it bordered with giant Cacti, 
Century Plants, clumps of Span- 
ish Bayonet, Australian Silk Oaks 
and Palms. Shows the grand pos- 
sibilities of gardening in Florida. 

No. 28. A Florida Lawn.— In the 
foreground are two beautiful Date 
Palms, and between them a man 
stands beside a Century Plant 
(Agave) which is taller than he, the 
shrubbery, etc., showing in the 
background. 

No. 29. A Florida Cracker and 
His Team, consisting of three 
pairs of oxen which are conspic- 
uous chiefly for their lack of fat, 
and the brand marks which show 
very plainly. A beautiful lake 
forms the background. 

No. 30. Solitude.— Shows a road 
through a Florida forest— "ham- 
mock"— with nothing alive in 
sight. It has an unmistakable 
look of solitude. 

No. 31. The Old Log School- 
house, shaded by an immense 
Live Oak draped with Spanish 
Mos?. The log school house is one 
of the features of Florida fast 
passing away. 

No. 32. Result of a Morning's 
Hunt is a picture of a "colored 
gemman" on a mule, both typical 
and taken in the woods. The dar- 
key has his rifle, and across the 
saddle is a deer, and hanging to 
his back several squirrels. 

No. 33. Crackers and Their 
Home.— A little log house in the 
woods, with father, mother,daugh- 



ter and son, the latter with his 
gun, standing outside. Sharp eyes 
will discover many strange, laugh- 
able and interesting features in 
this picture. 
No. 34. A Drapery of Moss.— A bit 
of road through a Florida "ham- 
mock," completely overarched 
with trees, from the branches of 
which hang draperies of the beau- 
tiful silvery Spanish Moss. Two 
men in a wagon drawn by a mule, 
gives the needed life to a charm- 
ing glimpse of nature. 

No. 35. Pine Island, Lake Apop- 
KA, is a pretty picture, showing 
Pine Island in the distance, look- 
ing through Cabbage Palms in the 
foreground. 

No. 36. Lighthouse, Egmont Key, 
on the Gulf coast. At the base of 
the lighthouse are two or three 
large Cabbage Palms and Sea 
Grape (a magnificent semi-trop- 
ical shrub). 

No. 37. On Palatlakaha River, 
is atypical Florida river scene. 

No. 38. Campers on St. Joseph's 
Island.— Shows a lot of campers 
around a fire, with Cabbage Palms 
and Live Oaks around. A typical 
outing scene for which Florida is 
justly famous. 

No. 39. Mouth op the Anclote 
River.— A lovely scene, quite im- 
possible to adequately describe. A 
picture which never fails to elicit 
exclamations of admiration. 

No. 40. On the Anclote River.— 
A beautiful view of the river and 
its banks, on which are growing 



Cabbage Palms, immense Pines 
and other vegetation. A tiny 
steamer and its occupants enliven 
the scene. 

No. 41. The Bayou, Tarpon 
Springs, taken from ex-Gov. Saf- 
ford's windmill. 

No. 43. Sponge Schooner at Tar- 
pon Springs.— A fine *' study" for 
a painting. 

No. 43. Sponges on the Wharf 
AT Tarpon Springs.— In addi- 
tion to the heaps of sponges are 
shown some of the pretty boat- 
houses around the spring. (This 
is one of the Florida springs large 
enough for small vessels to enter.) 

No. 44. On The St. John's River. 
—A wild and weird scene. 

No. 45. A Little Pickaninny.— A 
fat and wrinkled colored baby 
sitting in a white wash-bowl. The 
way he "shows the whites of his 
eyes" would upset the gravity of 
a judge. 

No. 46. "Aunty," Her Picka- 
ninnies AND Home at "'Possum 
Trot" (three miles from Jessa- 
mine Gardens.) A "colored lady" 
and her numerous progeny group- 
ed before a cabin which is "fear- 
fully and wonderfully made." 
The "stick and mud" chimney 
alone is a marvel and worthy the 
brush of some artist. 

Address orders for photographs to 
PIKE & ELLSWORTH, 
Jessamine, 
Pasco Co., 
Florida. 



62 



The Clyde Steamship Co 

NEW YORK, CHARLESTON, ANI) FLORIDA LINE. 




For CHARLESTON, S. C, the South and Southwest. 

For JACKSONYILLE, FLA., and all Florida Points. 

Appointed Sailing Days from Pier 29, East River, N. Y. 

Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, at 3 p>.na. 

THE ONLY LINE BETWEEN 

NE: W YORK AND JACKSONVILLE, KLA. 

WITHOUT CHANGE. 

Unsurpassed Passenger Accommodations and Cuisine. 

The Fleet is composed of the following elegant steamers : 

ALGONQUIN, SEMINOLE, IROQUOIS, CHEROKEE, YEMAS- 
SEE, DELAWARE. 

Throngh Tickets, Rates and Bills of Lading for all points South and 
Southwest via CHARLESTON, and all Florida points via JACKSON- 
VILLE. 

ST. JOHN'S RIVER STEAMERS (De Bary Line) 

Jacksonville and Sanford, Fla.. and Intermediate Landings on 

the St. John's River. 

Steamers "City of Jacksonville," " F. De Bary," "Everglade," "Welaka," 

Sailing from Jacksonville daily, except Saturday, at 3.30 p. m., making close 
connection with all railroads at Palatka, Astor, Blue Springs and Sanford. 
Through Tickets and Bills of Lading at Lowest Rates to all interior points 
in Florida, For further information apply to 

M. H. CLYDE, A. T. M., A. J. COLE, G. P. A., THEO. G. EGER, T. M., 
S BOWLING GREEN, NEW YORK. 

WM. P. CLYDE & CO., General Agents, 

5 Bowling Green, 12 South Delaware Avenue, 

NEW YORK. PHILADELPHIA. 



Florida Central & Peninsular Railroad. 

SHORT LINE BETWEEN FLORIDA AND ALL NORTHERN POINTS. 
EVERETT, SAVANNAH, AUGUSTA, GA., COLUMBIA, WASHINGTON, BALTI- 
MORE, PHILADELPHIA, NEW YORK, BOSTON AND THE EAST. 

Everett, Macon, Atlanta, Chattanooga, Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati, 
Chicago. 

Everett, Birmingham, Holly Springs, Memphis, Little Rock, Kansas City, 
St. Louis, Chicago, Sioux City. 

River Junction, Pensacola, Mobile, New Orleans, Texas, Mexico, Cali- 
fornia and the Pacific Coast. 

ONLY L,INE WITH THROUGH SLEEPERS BETWEEN JACK- 
SONVILLE AND NEW ORLEANS. 



LEAVE JACKSONVILLE TWICE DAILY 

• Via Fla. Central and Peninsular, Southern Ry. and Penna. R. R., 
With Through Pullman Sleepers for Everett, Savannah, Columbia, Wash- 
ington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Boston and all Eastern Polr^ts. 

LEAVE JACKSONVILLE DAILY 
For Lake City, Live Oak, Madison, Monticello, Tallahassee, River Junction, 
Pensacola, Mobile, New Orleans and the Southwest, Mexico, California 
and the Pacific coast. Carries Sleeper. 

LEAVE JACKSONVILLE DAILY 
For Starke, Hawthorne, Silver Spring, Oca! a, Gainesville, Cedar Key, Wild- 
wood, Leesburg, Tavares, Apopka, Orlando, Lacoochee, Dade City, Plant 
City, Tampa. 

CINCINNATI AND FLORIDA LIMITED, DAILY 
Solid Vestibule Train. Time a little over 35 hours to Cincinnati via Macon, 
Atlanta, Chattanooga. Connects for Nashville, Louisville, Chicago and all 
points north and west. 

HOLLY SPRINGS ROUTE, DAILY 
Only Route with Tlirougli Sleepers between Jacksonville and Kansas City, via 
Macon. Atlanta, Birmingham, Holly Springs, Memphis, Springfield, Kansas 
City, St. Louis, Chicago. Sioux City. Through Sleepers without change to 
Kansas City and St. Louis, and only one change to Chicago and Sioux City. 
WESTERN LOCAL DAILY For Tallahassee and intermediate points. 
FROM JACKSONVILLE EVERY NIGHT 

For Tampa and intermediate points. Pullman Sleepers. 
11. OO P. M.— Night Departure, Jacksonville to Cincinnati via Everett, 
Macon, Atlanta, Chattanooga. Arrives Cincinnati 7.30 a. m. Leaves Cin- 
cinnati 8.00 p. m. Arrives Jacksonville (5.00 a. m. Sleepers open at Jackson- 
ville 8.30 p. m. Arriving passengers can remain on sleepers until 7.30 a. ni. 

PULLMAN SLEEPERS ON ALL NIGHT TRAINS. 

Send for Best Indexed Township Map of Florida to 

N. S. PENNINGTON, A. O. MacDONELL, 

Traffic Manager. General Passenger Agent. 



hot37 



f ripi.tDo, 



I Wii 



E-E N"N S Y liT- A N I A 
All» gh«iiy~y Altoopa ^ plA' ^"fVr k^^tS^ 

VIBQINIA / 

CHARLESTON /-*"0/</ w'^XvL^ ^m^^A -t^ wW/ J 



JtN8^<viLLE./ Tsyloreville ^*--4 o#(»*l-EiaH/ 




-"V I >CochranRiucXTLf 

QLUMBUS / lo, ^ aVL«.^ 



lBRUNSWH 







OUL 



MEXICO 



THE M-N. CO., BUFFALO, 




i# 





ri^ 



ec 



101(3. 




' Fair scenes ! where breeze and sun diffuse 
The sweetest odors^ fairest hues." 



1>J 



